Lay Me Down
by Sabaku-No-Gaara1994
Summary: They became friends in high school, then they became more, and then Gaara join the military and he couldn't tell Neji where he was. When he got back hes not the same person, and Neji doesn't know what to do, and he finds himself on the ride of his life. Neji/Gaara
1. Chapter 1

Lay Me Down

"You stupid little cunt!" Gaaras father yelled, and the room was filled with the sounds of flesh hitting flesh as he continuously kept hitting his youngest son.

"You killed her, it's your fault shes dead!" he screamed as he reigned down hit after hit on the small red-headed child.

"What are you doing you crazy fuck!" Kankuro yelled, he was ten years older than Gaara who had just turned 8 a few days ago. The older boy ran and tackled his father and held him down before hitting him a few times to get him to calm down.

"You can not do that to your own son! He couldn't have done anything to stop mom from dying and its time you learned that!" Kankuro screamed as he punched his father again.

"You ever hit him again and it will be the last thing you ever do." Kankuro said as he picked up the small boy and carried him out of the one bed room apartment he and his father shared in Suna.

Kankuro carried Gaara to his own apartment that he shared with his boyfriend Kiba. Gaara had always liked visiting his older brother and 'uncle' Kiba. He liked playing with Akamaru their big German Sheppard.

"What happened?" Kiba asked coming into the living room to see Kankuro gripping his younger brothers bleeding and bruised little body.

"It was our father, I told him I would be coming over and when I got there I found him wailing on Gaara. I all but beat the piss out of him." Kankuro said. He walked over to the couch and laid the still little body down on the couch and then collapsed. He had no idea that today was going to be this rough.

Neji Hyuga was turning 9 in a few days and couldn't be happier. He had a loving father, and a mother who doted on his every move. He was the perfect child at that, he listened to his parents and did everything that was asked of him.

They all lived inside the Hyuga compound just outside the city, in the suburbs of Konoha. He was walking down the hallway towards his uncles office, that was where he usually found his father. His uncle was some kind of politician. Nothing big time, but still a very important man.

When he got to his uncles office he found his uncle and aunt crying, along with his cousin Hinata. They had sent the maids to look for Neji but it was all for naught it seemed as he had found them.

That is where they broke the news to him, that his parents had been killed while taking Hiashis place at a convention. It happened as they where walking into their hotel room, the man had been waiting for them and when he saw them he shot first and asked questions later.

Neji felt everything fall out from underneath of him, and the next thing he knew he was being held by his aunt. Tears gushing down his face he didn't understand. It seemed like just five minutes ago he was the happiest little boy in the world, and sadly it seemed that way because it was.

Six years after that Neji Hyuga was getting ready to start is tenth grade semester at Konoha High School. He has had perfect grades since elementary school. He is possibly the most well-behaved boy in the entire school.

After his parents death Hiashi raised Neji as his own son. Sometimes it was like he forgot he wasn't really Nejis dad, but he never left Neji wanting for a thing, though he never asked for much. Sasuke Uchiha was his best friend since before he lost his parents, they could always be found in the others company.

Neji always felt like something in his life was missing, and it went beyond his parents, but like a part of himself wasn't whole. It didn't matter what his uncle gave him or what his friends did.

Six years after that incident Gaara started living with Kankuro and Kiba. He didn't have many friends throught out middle school and most people just left him to himself, but he was about to go through one of the biggest changes of his life, because in a week he was starting high school.

Kankuro was very proud of Gaara, despite the things their father had beaten into him as a child Kankuro and Kiba had been trying to fill the void of parents in Gaaras life. Kankuro saw him more as a son then a brother, but he never patronized him. He knew he wasn't his father, but he looked after him all the same. The ten-year age difference played a big part to.

The next weeks seemed to go by so quickly, Gaara found himself sitting on a bus at six in the morning. The first day of high school, he wasn't nervous. He just wanted to get high school over with.

He got there and immediately every girl in eye sight of him had stars in their eyes. He had his own fan club and he was not happy. At 5 foot 9 he was taller than most girls, but still shorter than most of the other guys. He weighed around 130 pounds and was built very nicely. His shoulder length red hair was naturally messy and he hated brushing it, so he rarely did.

Sakura, a pink haired girl was the first one to come up and try to talk to him, followed very closely by the blonde haired Ino, Gaara had known them since middle school. They hadn't paid him any attention then, he was hoping things would have remained the same, but alas it seemed his luck had run out.

"Gaara?!" Sakura said with stars in her eyes. Gaara said nothing and crossed his arms over his chest. He wore a black button up shirt, a pair of black jeans that hugged his hips and a pair of red chucks. He was never a fan of his looks, but from Kibas drooling this morning he guessed he must have looked half decent.

"OH my god Gaara... Your hot..." Ino said very bluntly, half drooling herself. Gaara was then ganged up on by more than half the female student body.

Sasuke was standing by the door watching the whole ordeal with a chuckle, at least he didn't have to deal with the crazy fan girls for now.

Gaara found himself running down the halls. He didn't know the layout of the school and right now that worked to his advantage because the girls chasing him didn't know the layout either. He saw his best friend all the way at the other end of the hall, it was hard to miss the bright yellow hair.

Gaara ran and jumped onto Naruto and wrapped his legs around him, "Play along" Gaara whispered into his ear. He felt Naruto nod. Naruto owed him one anyway.

"OH NO NOT AGAIN!" Sakura screamed as she saw Naruto and Gaara making out against the lockers. Followed but other moans of unhappiness and other words of anger. After the girls had dispersed Gaara hopped down and brushed his clothes off.

"What the hell was that about?" Naruto asked.

"I needed to get them of my ass." Gaara said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. In this case it was, the blonde was just to dense to understand.

"So you decide to make out with me?" Naruto said exasperated.

"It was a spur of the moment thing and I didn't hear you complaining." Gaara replied. He had once, long ago, thought of Naruto like that, but no longer. He had become to good of a friend.

"Well okay then." Naruto finally said his face bright red. The two walked down the hallway and stood in a corner they found suited them. They could see everyone who came in the door and had multiple escape routes planed out.

"So how was your summer vacation?" Naruto asked.

"Kiba and Kankuro took me to the beach." Gaara said and hung his head.

"And?" Naruto asked.

"They made me get a tattoo." came he quiet reply.

"I don't see any tattoo." Naruto said accusingly.

Gaara sighed and leaned off the wall, and he lifted the back of his shirt up to revel a tattoo on his lower back. A tramp stamp by any other name. It was a Kanji, it stood for love.

Naruto wolf whistled and then laughed. Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow. Those had burned off one night he tried to cook for Kiba and Kankuro on their anniversary and had just never grown back.

"Its pretty hot." Naruto said. Gaara twitched and then snapped a quick punch into Narutos ribcage.

"It doesn't leave this conversation." Gaara said threateningly.

"I don't get how such a little guy like you packs such a big punch." Naruto said with a nod. "I get the point though."

"Good." came the gruff reply.

The two had ben friends since they got into a fight back in middle school. Gaara had beat Narutos ass up and down the hallway. To be honest Naruto did deserve it, after calling Gaara a faggot for wearing rainbow socks. After that he felt even more guilty once he realized he himself was gay.

Neji walked into the school noticing a lack of girls hounding him. He walked up to Sasuke and found he also had no girls bothering him.

"Whats going on? Did our fan clubs abandon us?" Neji asked hopefully.

"It seems they found a new target earlier this morning. One Gaara Subaku." Sasuke said.

"It must be to good to be true." Neji said.

The two walked in to the building and Sauske pointed out the red-head boy. "That's him." He said.

Nejis jaw all but hit the floor. Gaara was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on. The blood-red hair stuck out like a sore thumb against all the drab colors around them, well other than the bright yellow of Narutos.

"I can see why they would be interested." where the only words Neji could make out. Sauske gave him a disbelieving look.

"Not you to Neji." Sasuke said.

"You have no room to talk. I've seen the way you look at Naruto." Naji said with a massive smirk.

Gaara caught him from across the room, if he was honest with himself, he noticed him the second he walked in the door. He was HOT. Far out of his league for sure. His milky white eyes seemed to look right into him, it was like they were cutting through the bullshit walls he had set up and he saw Gaara for who he was as a person.

He walked with a swagger that screamed high-class, but not conceded. He was a man who screamed that he was important, but not over the top. He wore a white short-sleeved button up shirt and a pair of light brown cargo shorts.

Naruto was studying his friend and found he was staring, very openly, at Neji Hyuga.

"Why don't you just go say Hi?" Naruto smirked.

"Shut up." Gaara muttered.

Neji saw him looking at him and smiled. Not a smirk but a smile. Sasuke made a sound like he was going to gag and then parted ways with his friend. Neji didn't pay him any attention. His focus was elsewhere.

"Well hello there. Neji Hyuga." Neji said, Gaara had stopped looking at him, and was deep in conversation with Naruto, who was now staring wide-eyed at Neji. Gaara slowly turned around and his mouth fell open and his cheeks turned a bright pink.

"Im told I have you to thank for not being accosted this morning by the female population." Neji said extending his hand. Gaara took it and shook it, but he felt lost in Nejis eyes. He shook his head and recomposed himself.

"Gaara." He said introducing himself, though he knew Neji probably already knew his name.

That was the start of a friendship between Garra Subaku and Neji Hyuga that became the topic of discussion for many years to come in Konoha High School. Classic wrong side of the tracks friendship. The rich boy who had more swagger then he knew what to do with, and the trouble maker who was notorious for getting into fights.


	2. Chapter 2

Lay Me Down

chapter 2

The years went by and Gaara found himself caring more about Neji then he did himself, or any other person for that matter. He found himself blushing at every smile, laughing at every joke. It wold have been the start of his sophomore year, 11th grade, but Gaara was the smartest person in the entire school, it was quite surprising actually.

Gaara was allowed to skip 11th grade and go right into his senior year. He was a year younger than the other seniors but he didn't care, it seemed he would be graduating the same time as Neji.

Neji, who had been attracted to Gaara since the first time he saw him, never believed in love at first sight, but Gaara proved that notion wrong with one conversation. He had been there for Gaara through 9th and 10th grade. He had become a better friend to Gaara then even Naruto, and Gaara and Neji could always be found in the others company.

Gaara hadn't changed much since starting high school, he had maybe grown an inch or two, putting him around 5 foot 10. He hadn't put on any weight, still around 130 pounds. His hair was still shoulder length and blood-red.

Neji still have his long chocolate-brown hair, which could usually be seen up in a pony tail during school hours. He had grown quite a bit in the last two years. Standing around 6 foot 5, he towered over the shorter red-head, and had about 30 pounds on him. Though he knew not to piss the fiery red-head off. He liked the way he looked, and he hated having bruises.

Gaara walked in to the school for the first day of his senior year. As to be expected he was met with a lot of hostility. Most seniors were not very happy that he managed to skip an entire grade. Mainly Rock Lee, who was not very smart and barely made it to his senior year, mostly on gym credits. He was on the schools martial arts team, boxing team, and most other sports.

When Gaara walked in Lee was there and in his face. Naruto and Neji quickly stepped away from Gaara, they both knew what was going to happen, though the school underestimated Gaara greatly.

Rock Lee was becoming angrier and angrier as Gaara stood in front of him, completely ignoring him. He seemed to be brushing every word off of his shoulder. Then Lee said something that made the entire crowd gasp. Gaara had only made out the last word.

"...Faggot" and Gaara lowered his hands and straightened his back, he went to crack his neck but Lee went on the offensive. Snapping out a left punch that Gaara dodged as if it no faster than an ant. Gaara dodged every hit Lee threw at him.

As Lees punches became faster Gaara started sidestepping, and then Lee aimed for his chest which Gaara seemed to leave mostly unprotected. Everybody flinched expecting a devastating impact, which never came. Gaara caught Lees fist mid punch, and rocked him with a haymaker that sent the bigger boy to the ground.

The fight was over just like that and nobody knew how it happened, it happened in the span of about a minute and the crowd had dispersed before the teachers had even shown up.

"Well, you sure showed him." Neji said.

"Kicked his ass almost as bad as you did mine." Naruto admitted.

Gaara shrugged, he was not one for celebration and gloating. He crossed his arms and surprisingly the rest of the day went by without incident. It was like middle school all over, except Naruto had actually put up a fight.

The days few by and turned into weeks, which turned into months. Gaara and Neji became even closer. Rumors said they were more than friends but neither of them had ever confirmed that.

School was out for the day and the two found themselves sitting at a park near both of their houses. It was relatively quiet, not many people knew about the place. Gaara had actually found it on accident when he got lost on his way to Nejis one day.

Gaara was sitting on the top of the jungle gym looking up at the sky and Neji was sitting on the swing beneath him.

"So what are you going to do when you get out of school?" Neji asked.

"Military." Gaara said. It always seemed like the thing to do, and with the war with Suna in full tilt they needed all the soldiers they could get. Plus Konoha welcomed soldiers that had knowledge of Suna, Gaara had grown up there, he was born there, lived the first five years of his life there.

"Really, I never would have expected that." Neji replied.

"What about you?" Gaara asked still looking up at the sky,

"I think I want to be a lawyer. Have you ever seen the inside of a prison, If I can keep one innocent man out of jail I'll have done my job." Neji said. Gaara nodded, he could respect that.

"What do you think about me Neji?" Gaara asked, it was an odd question, but Gaara had always tended to be very blunt.

"I think you are the best person I know." Neji said. "You are so tolerant, I've seen people unload on you, say terrible things, and you can just brush it off. We all have our breaking points though." Neji went on to say.

"That's not what I meant." Gaara said jumping down from the Monkey bars. "I mean how do you feel about me? Do you.. Do you find me attractive?" Gaara asked, his throat dry. He had meant to have this conversation a long time ago but he had put it off far to long. He needed to know, school was almost over and he wasn't sure if he could die without knowing how Neji felt about him.

Neji stood up and looked down at the red-head. He put his hand on Gaaras cheek and looked him straight in the eye.

"Gaara you are the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life." Neji said. Gaaras eyes went wide as if that was the last thing he expected Neji to say. Gaara took a step closer to Neji who matched each step until they were less than inches apart.

"I like you Neji." Gaara whispered. Neji smiled.

"I like you to Gaara." he responded.

"I mean I like you a lot. More than a friend a lot." Gaara replied.

Neji had enough of the talking and grabbed Gaara by the back of the neck and pulled him into the most mind numbing kiss Gaara had ever been involved in. Gaara felt the air rush out of him, his mouth go dry, it felt like a butterfly was flying around his stomach. He couldn't think straight, and he doubted he ever would again.

They broke apart and Gaara laid his head on Nejis shoulder, while Neji moved his head so that Gaaras head was underneath his chin. Their bodies fit together perfectly. It was as if they have been made just for each other.

Neji walked Gaara back to Kankuros apartment and before he left made sure to give Gaara another kiss.

"So what happens now?" Gaara asked, pulling Nejis arm as he was walking away.

"What do you want to happen?" Neji asked.

"More." Gaara said bluntly, this was the Gaara Neji knew all to well. "I want to be yours, and you mine." Gaara said wrapping his arms around Nejis waist and laying his head on Nejis chest.

"Gaara, would you go out with me?" Neji asked.

"You mean like be your boyfriend?" Gaara asked, face still buried in Nejis chest.

"That is exactly what I mean." Neji said with a smile.

"Yes Neji, I'd like that." Gaara said and looked up and kissed Neji once more before the two said goodbye and Gaara walked into the building and Neji called his driver.

"So who was that?" Kiba asked as Gaara sat down on the couch.

"My boyfriend." Gaara said absent-mindedly.

"You have a BOYFRIEND?!" Kankuro shouted from the other room. At once he was in the living room and sitting across from the red-head. "When did this happen?" He asked.

"Just now." Gaara said, the look on his face said he wasn't all there. A part of him was still standing with Neji outside the apartment.

"Who is it?" Kiba asked.

"Neji Hyuga." Gaara said.

"Neji Hyuga as in your best friend Neji?" Kiba asked.

"Thats the one." Gaara said.

"Good for you." Kankuro said with a smile. "I could see he liked you from the first time I met him." he said. Kankuro stood up and hugged his little brother.

The next day at school Gaara and Neji both were accosted by fan girls as they walked in the door. Gaara looked up at Neji.

"Do you want to put on a show for them?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Do you?" Neji asked. He received a quick nod and a smile from the red-head.

Neji looked back over his shoulder with a smile that had many of the girls behind them fawning over him. Then in the middle of all the he grabbed Gaaras arm, pushed him against a locker and kissed him like there was no tomorrow, and Gaara kissed back just as feverishly. He wanted nothing more than to stay right there, trapped between Neji and a locker with tasting the sweet lips that belonged to his boyfriend.

Nosebleeds. Nosebleeds everywhere. More than half the girls following them had fainted at the sight of the two hottest boys in the school making out. Neither boy was ready to break the kiss when a teacher walked by and told them to break it up. At first she had thought it was a fight, or that someone was being bullied, but as the two boys moved away from each other she noticed the red-heads blushing face and the hickeys on his neck.

"Oh..." she said before running down the hall.

"Well that wasn't awkward or anything." Neji said. Gaara was not finished with his boyfriend though, and gripped his collar and pulled him back into a mind melting kiss and neither of them could form a coherant thought if you paid them.

Weeks later, after everyone had gotten over the shock of the two hottest boys in the school being gay. Prom was announced. Black and White tie affair.

"Do you want to do?" Gaara asked, he though this was the kind of thing couples did.

"Only if you wear a dress." Neji said sarcastically a smirk ever-present on his face.

"Ill have to think about it." Gaara said with a smirk of his own. Popping his hip of to the side. The smirk abruptly fell from Nejis face and it turned bright red. He had no idea what to say back to that.

The two went throught the rest of the day with no problems. Gaara was deep in thought, would be be comfortable wearing a dress to a school dance? Prom at that? He would really have to sit down and think about it. He would love to see the look on Nejis face, but he would never be taken seriously again by anyone. He was caught up between love and his dignity.

Love, yes Love. Gaara was in love with Neji, he had known since the first time Nejis lips were pressed against his. He had known from the second their bodies had been pressed up against each others and the way it just felt right. He had known because Neji was all he was able to think about all day. His grades were suffering to, he had gone from an A+ student to a B- in a matter of a month. His teachers were giving him a massive amount of flak for it but Kankuro didn't care as long as he passed since he knew what Gaara was planing on doing with his life.

Kankuro had known about Gaara planing on going into the military since Gaara was very young. Their uncle Yashamaru had served and Gaara had always looked up to the man. When the news that he had been killed in action reached Gaara he had cried for days.

School ended and Neji walked Gaara home just like every other day, they got to Kankuros apartment and Neji pulled Gaara close. Their bodies pressing together just right as always.

"DO you want to come up?" Gaara asked.

"Will that be alright with Kankuro?" Neji asked.

"He won't care, besides Kiba has been talking non stop about seeing you again." Gaara said with a smile.

"How can I say no when you smile like that." Neji said kissing the red-head.

They walked up the stairs and when they opened the door Gaara was jumped on by the biggest German Sheppard Neji had ever seen, but he had met the dog before so he knew Akamaru was harmless.

"Oh hey there big guy." Gaara said from under the massive dog that had laid down on top of the red-head. Akamaru licked Gaaras face and then rolled off to one side and laid in the crook of Gaaras arm, both red-head and dog laying on their back.

Gaara stood up and rubbed Akamarus head. Kiba and Kankuro had just come into the room to see what all the commotion was.

"Hi Neji!" Kiba said giving Neji a hug, and Kankuro walked over and shook his hand.

"So you and my brother huh?" Kankuro asked slyly. Neji blushed and before he could say anything Kankuro continues. "Its okay, I could tell you liked him since the first time I met you." He clasped Nejis shoulder. "I think of you as a brother already so I know you'll take good care of him." Kankuro finished with a smile.

"Im right here, and I don't need anyone to take care of me." Gaara said, semi-pouting.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN/: Oh lemon, sweet lemon. Its been to long since I've written a good one. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Please bare with me, I know where I want this Fic to go, it's just going to take a few more chapters to get there. Give me some feedback please? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own the characters. **

Lay Me Down

chapter 3

Weeks passed and finally it was the night of prom. Neji and Gaara had by then made their relationship very open and Gaara had to deal with more people giving him shit for being gay, it made it completely worth it when he felt Nejis lips on his.

"So what are you wearing tonight?" Neji asked, he was actually very interested because Gaara still hadn't told him.

"I told you it would be a surprise my love." Gaara said with a smirk. Neji sighed, it seems he would just have to wait a few more hours. Then he would be back with the his uncles limo. Hiashi was lending it to him for prom on the condition that before they go to the dance he and Gaara had to come over so they could have their picture taken.

At first Hiashi had been very against Neji being with Gaara, he though he was a bad influence and a thug, for lack of a better word, but after he had met with the red-head he learned that he was actually very smart, and very deticated to his friends and the ones he cared about. He was also very patriotic for the country he lived in now, though he was born in Suna. Hiashi had taken a liking to him from that first meeting.

Neji went back and started getting ready, He put on a black long sleeve dress shirt, and a white tie. Then came the black suit jacket, with tails down past the back of his knees. He put on a pair of black slacks and black shoes. He tied the whole outfit together with a black and white fedora. All in all he thought he looked quite good. He was still dying to see what Gaara would have on.

"Is it ready?" Gaara asked Kiba who was sitting at the sowing machine in Kankuros room. Kiba was always good with that kind of stuff.

"Almost, impatient one." Kiba said with a smile. "A few more minutes and you can try it on." he said winking at Gaara. "Don't worry Neji will love it."

Neji pulled up at Gaaras apartment in a white Chrysler 300 limo. He stepped out and everyone on the street was looking at him. He was the very embodiment of manliness. In a suit and tie, not to mention the fedora. He looked good and he knew it. He rung the bell and Kankruo let him up. He climbed the stairs to the door and Kankuro opened the door with the biggest smile on his face. He was happy because he had never seen Gaara so happy in his life.

Neji walked in to see Gaara standing in the living room wearing a Black v neck dress. Yes I said dress. It started as a gag but Gaara found he did actually look really good in it. He didn't have any leg hair, or any other body hair for that matter. It was just the way he was. It showed quite a bit of skin and it was off set by Gaaras blood-red hair. He was wearing a pair of low to the ground white Louis Vuitton heels. His eyeliner wasn't as pronounced as he usually wore it but it was still there. He actually pulled off looking like a girl better than most of the girls at their school.

Nejis mouth was on the floor and was quite literally drooling. Kankuro handed him a paper towel to wipe his mouth and all the while Gaara was standing there, his face redder then his hair.

"Do.. Do you.. Like it?" He stuttered out. Neji couldn't get his mouth to say anything so he did the next best thing. He crossed the room, wrapped his hand around so it was resting on the small of the red-heads back and pulled his as close as he could. Then he looked down and kissed him, he tried to put every incoherent thought he could muster into it.

"I love it."

Gaaras face, if it were possible, turned an even brighter shade of red.

"I told you he would." Kiba said walking out of his shared room with Kankuro with a camera. "Time for pictures." he said with a huge smile.

They took pictures for fifteen minutes before they set off back to Nejis house so his uncle could have their picture taken. Gaara hadn't even thought about that.

"If your uncle going to be against me wearing a dress?" He asked quietly.

"I think he would have prefered you wear it then me." Neji responded with a kiss.

They where there within ten minutes and when they got there every man who worked on the grounds could be seen shooting jealous looks at Neji, it seems Gaara looked even better than he himself thought.

They met Hiashi, who smiled when he saw Gaara and Neji, if he was upset about the dress he didn't say anything. He had hired a professional photographer to take their pictures and he had told them it would be about a week before they got them back. Hiashi and Najis aunt bid them farewell and then they were off to the school.

"Gaara actually looked quite beautiful didn't he." Hiashi said to his wife. She nodded, the dress probably looked better on him then it would have on her.

They got to the school and when Neji helped Gaara out of the car every eye was on them. Every girl was shooting Gaara jealous looks for not only wearing the dress better than they could have, but also because he was there with Neji Hyuga. Every guy was shooting Neji jealous looks because his date looked better than any girl at the dance. It was strange, Gaara had been made fun off all year for his sexual preference, and yet here more than three-fourths of the male student body wished they had been there with him.

They walked in and took their seats. They were sitting with Sasuke who had brought Naruto as his date though both of them were wearing suits. Narutos mouth hit the table and Sasuke started laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

"You look amazing." Naruto said looking wide-eyed at Gaara, he had told him a week ago that he was going to wear the dress to prom but he never thought he would have actually done it. Sasuke had stopped laughing and took the time to really appreciate Gaara, and found he did actually look better than any girl in the room.

"You do actually look really good." Sasuke said wiping the tears from his eyes.

Gaara though had completely ignored them, instead focusing on his date who had begun making out with him right at the table. Neji just couldn't help himself. Gaara just looked so beautiful.

The hours went by and they danced, and ate, and danced some more. It was the last song before they announced the prom king and queen. It was a slow song at that. Neji was leading obviously, and Gaara had his head rested on Nejis chest as they danced together and they two had eventually become one. They where two halfs that made up each others whole.

It was that moment when Neji realized that the void he usually felt in his chest was gone. It was replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling he only ever felt around Gaara. Gaara was what had been missing from his life all this time. He made him complete.

Gaara had never felt this happy in his entire life. He looked up at Neji and a tear ran down his eye. He hadn't cried in god knows how long. Neji wiped the tear away with his thumb, carefully not to smudge the shorter boys make up.

"Whats wrong love." He whispered into the red-heads ear. Gaara put his arms around Nejis neck and pulled him down into a kiss that sent each into the welcome arms of oblivion. Neither cared where they were or what they were doing.

"For once, nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect." Gaara said with a smile. A genuine smile that made Neji feel like he was flying. He placed his hands at the small of Gaaras back and they kept dancing. When the song was over, Neji and Gaara found themselves next to Sakura and Ino, who were bickering about who was going to be prom king and queen.

They both agreed with was going to be Sasuke, though they each though they themselves would be queen. Naruto came up behind the two girls and shouted.

"I bet it'll be Neji and Gaara." he said with a wink at Gaara. Who in turn blushed.

"You idiot a boy can't be queen!" Sakura shouted. That's when the principle called the names for Prom King and Queen.

"Neji Hyuga and Gaara Subaku!" She yelled.

Everyone erupted into cheers much to Gaaras surprise. He never would have in a million years guessed this was how he would remember his prom. He didn't even mind that he was the queen because Neji was his King.

The rest of the dance became a blur and Neji, Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke left the school in the Nejis limo.

"After party is at my house." Sasuke said, "My parents are away for the week." he said with a smile on his face.

They showed up at Sasukes mansion and though it wasn't as big as Nejis families it was still impressive. Within the hour there were maybe a hundred people there. Neji had lost Gaara and found him in the stoner circle, blazed out of his mind. Neji knew he smoked occasionally so he let it go and went to find Sasuke and Naruto. He found them at the bar each with a bottle of whiskey in hand seeing who could finish one first.

Naruto won after Sasuke threw up in the sink.

"Better learn how to hold your alcohol love." Naruto said with a wink. Sasuke took another swing of whiskey to take the taste of vomit out of his mouth and handed the bottle to Neji who sat down next to Naruto at the bar.

"Where's Gaara?" the blonde asked.

"He's with Shikamaru smoking reefer." he said simply. He had decided a long time ago that would wouldn't ask Gaara to change unless he wanted to, then Neji would do whatever it took to help him.

"Why aren't you over there with him?" Naruto asked.

"I don't smoke." Neji shrugged.

"Have you ever tried it?" the blonde asked.

"Nope." Neji responded.

"Motherfucker, you just won the Prom King title with your BOYFRIEND as the QUEEN! Go smoke with him!" Naruto said pushing him off the bar.

A few minutes later Neji found himself at the circle sitting next to Gaara. He had never smoked before so when the joint got to him he had no clue what to do. He looked up at Gaara as if to ask for help and the red-head laughed and took the joint from him. He took a hit and then kissed Neji to many woots at the table. He shotgunned the hit into Nejis open mouth.

Neji felt amazing after a few minutes. He doubted that outside of being with Gaara he had never felt better in his life. They did that a few more times before Gaara handed the joint to Shikamaru and grabbed Nejis hand and the two took off. They walked up to Sasuke and let them know they where leaving. As they were walking out the door they left to an applause.

They got out to the car and Gaara told the driver to take them back to Gaaras house and then he could come back in the morning to pick Neji up. Neji shoot him a questioning look.

"Dont worry love. Kankuro and Kiba are staying at Kibas parents tonight." Gaara said with a wink. Neji understood what was going on now. Gaara was giving him the last part of him. The only part that had been able to innocent.

"Are you sure about this?" Neji asked. He didn't want Gaara to do something he would regret in the morning.

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life." Gaara said. Then he lifted his leg up and straddled Nejis lap. He started kissing him and then moved down and started sucking on his neck. "Besides don't you want to see whats under the dress." he whispered.

That sealed the deal for Neji, every questioning thought he had slipped out of his mind as he kissed Gaara back. He needed to feel Gaara, his lips on his. It was more important than air at that moment. He was hard as a rock in his slacks and Gaara could feel it.

"It seems someones excited." He said seductively. He grinded down on Neji and he couldn't help the moan that escaped.

They got to Gaaras apartment and all but ran up the stairs. When they got up to the apartment, Gaara was at the door fumbling through his keys when Neji wrapped his arms around Gaaras waist. Gaara could feel Nejis hard on through his pants and the dress. Gaara finally unlocked the door and he pulled away from Neji much to the taller boys dismay.

Neji watched at the door as Gaara was swishing his hips as he walked, then he let the dress fall from his shoulders and it fell to the ground and Nejis eyes were glued to the little material he could see of the little black thong Gaara was wearing with the Kanji for Love right about it. He couldn't think straight, and even he had been sober he wouldn't have been able to form a half coherent thought if his life depended on it.

Gaara looked back over his shoulder at Neji and saw the tent that had been pitched in his pants. He turned around and all Neji saw the front of the panties, they had a big red heart on them. His cock twitched in his slacks and then the next thing he knew Gaara was on his knees in front of him rubbing his crotch.

Neji kicked his shoes off, and Gaara slid his pants and boxers down in one move. Gaaras eyes went wide at the sight of Nejis junk. It was huge. Huge actually did it no justice. He hadn't even been able to tell how big it was through his pants. He palmed it and then looked up at Neji making sure not to break eye contact as he took all of it in his mouth in one move.

Gaara felt Neji spasm and he tasted Nejis salty, yet some what sweet cock in his mouth. He ran his tongue up and down the side of it and then it popped out of his mouth and he began licking the head. All the while not breaking eye contact with his lover.

Neji was not sure how he knew how to do these things but it was amazing. He looked down into those oh so innocent looking eyes as Gaara engulfed his cock once more. He felt the tightness of Gaaras throat, and it was too much, as Gaara popped it out Neji came with a groan. His seed went everywhere. All over Gaaras face and chest. Neji collapsed on the floor in front of Gaara.

"Sorry." He said. Gaara looked like he couldn't be happier though. He stood up and held out his hand. Then he kicked off his heels and led Neji into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"Don't worry about it." He said with a smirk. He grabbed Nejis cock. "Don't go soft on me now big guy." he said with a wink. Nejis cock immediately responded to Gaaras touch and was already half hard again.

They slipped into the shower together and Gaara soaped up Neji and himself, washing both of them at the same time. Neji had no idea how he was doing it, Gaara was drunker and higher than him. He had no idea how the smaller boy was functioning so well. Gaara got down to Nejis cock again and started stroking it.

"God you're so big." he said looking down at it, his face turning red. "Try not to break me in half." he said and leaned up and kissed Neji, who was still able to taste himself on Gaaras lips. Neji reached around and started fingering Gaara without breaking the kiss. In an attempt to distract Gaara, but he was just so tight. Gaara moaned into the kiss, unable to hold back the sound. He shivered around Nejis finger, when he felt Gaara was ready he lifted him up and Gaara wrapped his legs around Nejis waist.

Neji lined himself up and then slammed into Gaara, who was at the same time impaling himself with Nejis gigantic cock. Neji would push in and then Gaara would end up sliding all the way back down until he was full all over again. Being full of Neji was the most blissful moment in his life. He felt like a missing part of him had clicked into place.

"Neji... Neji..." Gaara moaned, he couldn't hold back and began muttering incoherently nothing he could say made sense as Neji pounded into him over and over, the water from the shower washing over them. He couldn't keep in the screams any longer and as Neji picked up his pace Gaara began screaming Nejis name over and over, along with the occasional "Harder" or "Faster" to which Neji was all to happy to oblige.

Neji was in heaven. Slamming into this red-headed beauty that he had been in love with for years. It was everything he ever dreamed it could be and more. Gaara screamed as he hit a bundle of nerves deep inside of him. After which Neji hit dead on from that point on. Every thrust brought both of them closer to their climax and pretty soon Gaara was cumming, all over His chest and Nejis. As Gaara hit his orgasm he instinctively tightened every muscle in his body and drove Neji to his own cumming deep inside of Gaara.

They stayed like that under the water for another five or ten minutes before Neji pulled out of his lover and then returned the wash Gaara had given him earlier. Then he carried him out of the shower and then they laid down on Gaaras bed. Gaara clinged to Nejis chest and if he had spoken any quieter Neji doubted he would have heard him.

"I love you Neji." Gaara whispered into Nejis chest. Neji pulled Gaara as close as possible and covered them both up.

"I love you to Gaara, more than anything in this world." Neji responded.


	4. Chapter 4

Lay Me Down

chapter 4

Gaara woke up the next morning and found he and Neji both were still naked under the covers. He could hear Kiba and Kankuro in the living room and shot up only to be pulled back down into Nejis strong arms.

"I need to go get the stuff I left out there." Gaara mumbled half-heartedly, now that he knew Neji was awake he didn't really want to get up.

"They brought it in here love." Neji said.

Gaara sat up once again and looked at the corner of his room where the dress, heels, and Nejis clothes were sitting. At once Gaaras face turned bright pink. If Kankuro didn't know he had sex last night he did when he got home.

Gaara laid back down and entwined himself in Nejis arms. He liked when Neji held him, he felt safe, secure, like everything was going to be okay. Gaara wrapped his arms around Nejis waist and felt like he was about to fall asleep when Kiba burst into his room.

"AWWWWW LOOK AT THE CUTE COUPLE!" Kiba said, well more like screamed.

Kankuro came into the room laughing his ass off. He grabbed Kibas arm and had to all but drag him out of the room. Gaara decided it was time to get up, as much as he didn't want to. Gaara found Nejis button up shirt laid out on his dresser and decided that was what he was going to wear. Neji could just borrow something of Kankrous. He pulled on a pair of boxers and went to ask Kankuro if Neji could borrow some clothes, they were about the same size, well Kankuro probably had about thirty or forty pounds on Neji but that's what belts were made for.

After Gaara got some clothes he walked back into his room to find Neji standing next to the bed still naked. Gaara couldn't help but steal a glance, that turned into a stare. He couldn't believe that had been inside of him. It had to have been at least a foot long. He instantly started feeling sore, incredibly sore. It was like a delayed reaction.

Neji smirked and then Gaara handed him the clothes. Neji slipped into them quickly and admired his red-headed lover, who was still wearing his shirt. He leaned down and gave Gaara a kiss before he said his goodbyes, the driver was going to be there any minute. Neji walked out into the living room and told Kankuro he would give Gaara his clothes to give back to him the tomorrow. He walked back over to Gaara and gave him one last kiss and then left. Gaara immediately felt more alone than he had ever felt in his life, ad he was sure Neji felt the same way.

Kankuro was sitting on the couch when Gaara sat down on next to him. Kankuro gave a knowing smile.

"So how did last night go?" Kankruo asked. Seeing Gaaras face turn pink he got the answer he was least expecting.

"I got voted Prom Queen." Gaara said with a smirk having avoided the sexual innuendos, but he should have known better, he was talking to his brother after all.

"So did the King court his Queen?" he asked with a smirk and a wink. Gaara looked down at the floor.

"We want details!" Kiba shouted. At that point Kankuro had enough of the conversation and left the room. "How big is he?" Kiba asked with a small smirk.

"I didn't really have time to measure." Gaara said quietly.

"Well how big did it feel?" Kiba asked. He wanted to know if Kankuro was bigger than the teen. Gaaras face flushed even more rethinking the nights events, he couldn't believe how seductive he had been.

"11, maybe 12 inches." Gaara said shyly. At that Kankuro kicked his bedroom door open.

"WWHAAATT!" He shouted. He couldn't believe Gaaras teenage boyfriends junk was bigger then his. Kiba fell off the couch laughing. He though he was bigger then Kankuro but he wouldn't have guessed by that much. Gaara looked down at the floor, if there was a feeling past mortified that's what he was feeling.

"He's got like 4 inches on you Kanky!" Kiba choaked out inbetween the few breaths he could suck in.

Days went by, and then weeks. It all seemed like a blur to Gaara, a blur of school, Neji, and training. He had to be in perfect shape to even be considered for what he wanted to do. Since he was little he wanted to be in the Special Forces. His uncle had been one of the best soldiers Konoha had, and if he wanted to be half as good he had to work for it.

Neji, Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in Sasukes living room. There was two weeks left of school year and it had dawned on Naruto that he would be the only one since Sasuke and Neji were both 18, and Gaara had skipped a grade.

They were watching tv and Sasuke scowled at the news before standing up and leaving the room.

"Whats up with him?" Neji asked. Naruto pointed at the tv, it had been all over the news for weeks. Itachi Uchiha was being released from prison. Sasukes brother.

It was well-known that Itachi was the youngest head of the Yakuza in history. He controlled every triad leader in the entire country before he was arrested for tax evasion. In a month he would be released from prison. Gaara could understand somewhat how Sasuke must have felt. When the raven haired boy came back Gaara looked at him.

"You hate your brother?" he asked.

"He's a criminal, he stopped being my brother a long time ago." Sasuke snapped. He sighed at looked back at the red-head who had not dropped his gaze. "Sorry, but yes. He is a terrible person. After he got out of the military all he knew was killing people. He did the only thing he knew how to do and just started doing it for a lot more money." Sasuke finished and looked at the ceiling, "But I doubt any of you would know anything about how that feels.

Neji scoffed and Sasuke and Naruto looked at him skeptically. "Not my place to say, its his." he said motioning to Gaara who sighed.

"You've heard about General Kaze right?" Gaara asked. Both boys nodded. "He's my dad." Gaara said, both boys mouths dropped, Gaaras dad was a famous Suna general and neither of them had known it.

The rest of school passed quickly. The next thing any of them knew it was graduation. Neji and Gaara sat next to each other in the throng of student. Kiba and Kankuro were sitting in the bleachers taking picture after picture. Kiba had developed quite the motherly connection to Gaara. He had all but raised him anyway so it could be understood. Green and white banners were stung from the ceiling and when Nejis name was called he walked up and the principle gave him his diploma and shook his hand, Gaaras name was called not long after.

After all the names had been called all of them were told to raise and they all threw their hats up into the air and Kiba had taken the perfect picture of Neji and Gaara kissing as the hats fell around them.

"So you want to be in the military?" Kakashi Hatake, the most famous recruiter in the entire state, asked the red-head. "You don't seem like much of a fighter." he said looking the small boy over.

"I can take care of myself." Gaara sad. He handed him a paper that Zabuza, who also served in the military, now the gym teacher at his now former high school had signed off on that stated his best running times, and his personal best at other exercises. Not to mention a recount of every fight he had ever been in.

"Well boot camp starts in two weeks. All the recruits are meeting here." He said handing Gaara a piece of paper with an address on it. "You better be prepared for whats to come." he finished before he motioned for Gaara to leave his office.

He got home to find Neji, Kankuro and Kiba sitting on the couch in the living room. He took a seat on Nejis lap.

"How'd it go?" Kiba asked.

"Boot camp is in two weeks." Gaara said.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Kankuro asked.

"There are two things I'm absolutely sure of." Gaara said. "The first is loving Neji, and the second is this." he finished.

It had taken Neji a long time to accept this was the path his lover was taking. Truth be told he still wasn't 100 percent okay with it, but it was not his decision, it was Gaaras. So he played the supportive boyfriend and gave him all of his support.

They pulled into the bus station, which was the address Kakashi gave him. There stood a few other men, well boys most of them. All around Gaaras age. Neji and Gaara got of the car and Gaara looked up at him. He kissed him with everything he had. Every unsaid feeling, every ounce of love he had in his body poured out into his lips.

"Be sure to write me." Neji said with a smile. For all his problems with this he could admit, Gaara looked damn sexy in uniform.

"I'll be sure to tell you everything I can." Gaara replied with a smile. He hugged Kiba and Kankuro and then looked back at Neji. "I love you Neji, never forget that." he said, and he kissed Neji one more time.

He watched as the car pulled away, and with it every happy memory he ever had. He needed to be hard as a stone for what was to come. He walked up to the group of guys in uniform. The first person to start talking to him was a tall, skinny boy named Haku, he found out that they had actually attended the same school, along with another guy there Shino. Haku though was actually Zabuza's son. He had heard all about Gaara from his father and was not surprised to see him there, but he was surprised to see that he was all around smaller than himself.

They got on the bus that pulled up in front of them and with nothing but the uniforms on their backs they got on the bus and were on their way to become soldiers.

They got there and the first thing that happened was they had their hair cut, Gaara hadn't worn his hair short since he was a kid, and it was even shorter than back then. You could still tell his hair was blood-red though.

The a week into the camp and Gaara could already tell more than half of them wouldn't make it. Gaara had broken records set by both Yashamaru and Zabuza while he was there. The last day of boot camp they had their evaluations and Generals from every branch of the military were they're looking at the potential talent pool. Every one of them had their eyes on Gaara Subaku. The talk was he would be the best soldier they would have had in a long time. They were pleasantly surprised when he out-performed every other person, and anyone else who had ever been evaluated.

Gaara had been drafted into what they called the SEAL teams. It stood for Sea, Air, Land. They were the best group of guys that the Konoha military had, he would have to go through another two months of training just to see if he would make the cut, though everyone had high hopes for Gaara SEAL training could make a man or break him, but Gaara was not about to quit now.

Not even Yashamaru had made it that far in the military, he was a Force Recon Marine Sniper. Best shot they ever had, though Gaara broker every record he set, where Yashamaru set the record for a bullseye at 1,000 yards 9 out of ten times, Gaara set it at 1,500 yards and hit it 10 out of 10 times. Where Yashamaru set the mile run record at 15 minutes Gaara broke that by 3 minutes. It seemed that he would rise even further up the ranks and thats just what he did.

He stood at the SEAL team graduation, it was a small affair, just the team coordinators, the commander-in-chief of the Military Jiraiya Senin. The teams were set up so the best of the best were in SEAL team one, and it went from there. Gaara was assigned as the team leader of SEAL team one. It was an honor unheard of. No one ever had come right out of SEAL training to be the leader of team one, but here was Gaara.

A year later Gaara and his team found themselves in the deserts of Suna. He was told it would be his last mission, he had been all over Suna neutralizing high-profile targets, and this was the last one. General Kaze Subaku. Gaara was the last remaining SEAL from his original squad. He was hardened. He was everything a man should be, but deep down in his heart he wished to be held by strong arms he had dreamed about every night he slept under the dark Suna sky. Gaara had more confirmed kills than any other SEAL, or any other soldier for that matter. He had been shot, stabbed, his body had been littered with scars, all in the name of his country.

He had been captured just a few months ago, Suna forces had boxed them off from their rendezvous location and picked his entire team off until he was the only one left. He managed to escape after a few days, but those few days had been the worst days in his entire life. They had tortured him, tried to get information off him, but he said nothing expect, "Subaku, Gaara, Captain, 183-984-10492." in response to any question they had. He had declined time off, the war was on the downward slope and he knew they needed him. He would do anything for his country. He has bleed for it, and almost died for it, and he would do it all over again if they asked him to. It took his three days to escape, and he was sure to take as many people as he could with him. THe POWs followed him for two days in the desert back the the Konoha FOB, he got a medal for that one. He was the most decorated officer they had.

They were dressed in light brown, the same color as the sand. They could have passed right by someone and they wouldn't have seen them. That was their jobs, they were ghosts. Gaara was on the top of the sand dune with Haku next to him, the rest of his team were retrieving data and planting explosives within the camp Kaze was stationed in.

On top on the dune Gaara was setting up his .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle. He loaded up a single bullet, and Haku had the binoculars that read distance and wind speed, they were a good 1500 yards from the camp and Gaara could have made the shot easily, but if you took the wind into account everything had to be precise.

"Team Leader this is team one, we have the package, we are proceeding to the rendezvous." a voice in his ear said.

"Copy that team one." Gaara replied.

"Team Leader this is team two, we have the explosives set. We will met team one at the rendezvous."

"proceed team two." Gaara said. He aimed up the car General Kaze was sitting in, Haku told him the wind speed and Gaara adjusted his rifle. Then when he had the shot lined up perfectly, Kaze got out of the car and Gaara pulled the trigger.

He watched with satisfaction as his father's head quite literally exploded on impact. The body fell and then team two activated the explosives. The camp was half-burned down by the time Gaara and Haku made it to the rendezvous.

"That was a good job Captain Gaara." Jiraiya said, stepping off the helicopter. "What you've done today has all but ended the war. There are a few more holdout spots left but Suna has been effectively defeated with the loss of their General." Jiraiya held out his hand. "You did good today son. You made your country proud. After we get you debriefed I think you should be able to go home." he finished.

Gaara took the mans hand, he had come to know Jiraiya very well in the year he had served under him. Doing missions for him and him alone. He was the only man above him now. He had become known for being ruthless and tactical. Suna soldiers had placed a bounty on his head. One million dollars to whoever brought the general the head of a red-headed sniper, but now that general was dead, by the same red-headed snipers hand.

Gaara and his team got on the helicopter and it took off. They arrived at the Konoha FOB within the hour. Gaara got off the plane to cheers, the men knew a SEAL when they saw one. He was a hero to them. He stripped off the sand colored armor and flak jacket to show a chiseled upper body and he stepped under the head of a cold shower, they wouldn't dare take a hot shower in the desert. That would be borderline suicide.

Sand and blood ran off his body and mixed with the water. He was going home. His long red hair plastered to his forehead. That was the one good thing, after he had been placed in a SEAL team we was allowed to grow his hair out again. He walked out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist and walked to his tent. Each SEAL team had their own tent, but there where never more than two teams at any FOB at any one time. Gaaras team was on their way out, someone else would be there to help out in the next few days. Gaara laid down on his cot and looked up at the ceiling of the tent. Haku sat up.

"You think we're really going home Gaara?" he asked. The two had become pretty close over the last two months, they had bled together and almost died together, it really created quite the bond between people.

"I sure hope so brother, I sure hope so." Gaara responded.

* * *

**FOB-Forward Operating Base. Its one of the few military terms I know, that I didn't just pull out of my ass.**


	5. Chapter 5

Lay Me Down

Chapter 5

Gaara got of the small airplane to a cheer of applause, his team had been sent home along with many other soldiers. To the people in front of him he was just an infantry troop, they had no idea of the things he had done, and they never would.

He had done things for his country that most people only read about in Tom Clancy books. Gaara found Kankuro, Kiba and Neji at the entrance of the Airport. He walked over and if it wasn't for his red hair they probably wouldn't have recognized him. He had put on about 20 pounds of pure muscle, but he hadn't grown much.

Neji ran up to him and Gaara slipped his arms around the taller mans waist. They hadnt seen each other in almost two years and it was so nice to be back in those familiar arms again. He looked up into those milky white eyes and Neji kissed him, he kissed his and Gaara had felt all the worry he had felt over the last two years pour out.

Neji had been at Kankuros apartment when they got the call that Gaara was MIA and suspected dead. The three had cried all night. None of them had slept that night. Deep down Neji knew that Gaara was alive, but it was so much to hope for in time of war.

After they broke the kiss, which must have lasted five minutes. Kankuro and Kiba ran over and hugged Gaara, two years ago it may have crushed him, but now he was so strong that when they hugged him he lifted both of them up. Even though both of them had at least 4 inches of height on the red-head.

Neji took Gaaras hand in his and they walked out of he airport together. They got in Nejis limo and they went back to Nejis apartment. When he enrolled into college Hiashi had gotten the young man a place to stay closer to the university. It was very white, just a couch, bookshelf, a loveseat, and a tv in the living room, and a few dressers and a bed in the bed room.

Gaara walked in and immediately sat down on the couch. He was jet lagged, Neji handed him a beer and sat down next to him. Kankuro and Kiba took a seat on the loveseat on Gaaras left. He took a swig of the beer and then leaned back. He hadn't felt this comfortable in years. In truth he had forgotten what comfort was.

"So how was it?" Kiba asked, only to have Kankuro hit his arm. "Oww!" Kiba yelled.

"You don't ask that kind of stuff Kiba!" Kankuro said. Gaara was thankful for that, he didn't really want to talk about most of the things he had been apart of, and some of them he legally wasn't allowed to say.

"All I can say is I was part of a SEAL team." Garra said. "After I finished my tour they promoted me to Master Sargent, the highest rank a noncollege graduate can achieve, and it was total hell." he said chugging the rest of his beer.

The room was silent, no one knew what to say, Gaara was the most hardened person any of them had met even before he joined the military, so if he said it was that bad, it must had been horrible.

"Well I'm gonna take a shower." Gaara said standing up.

"Yeah we better get going." Kankuro said. Him and Kiba standing up, they each hugged Gaara before leaving.

Gaara and Neji walked into the bedroom, where the bathroom was connected. Gaara began stripping down and Neji caught a glimpse of more scars than he had ever seen on a person. If he hadn't already known Gaara was the strongest person he had ever met in his life, he knew now.

"What? Aren't you going to join me?" Gaara asked with a smirk. Neji didn't even have to think, he had missed Gaara, he hadn't been with a soul since he left. He immediately got undressed and got in the shower.

Neji watched as the water rolled down the muscles and the scars. He felt hypnotized. He pushed Gaara up against the wall.

"Its been so long." Neji whispered. Gaara whipped his head back as Neji sucked on his neck, right were it met his collarbone, which had always been a soft spot for him.

"Well big guy, lets see what you got." Gaara whispered into Nejis ear.

They were in the shower for almost an hour, just a blur of soap and sex. Gaara hadn't felt that satisfied in as long as he could remember. Like everything may just be alright after all.

Weeks went by. Gaara didn't hae to work, the GI bill took care of most of the rent, he had moved in with Neji after that first night. He also had close to 500,000 dollors in his bank account, the product of being in the military was it payed well, and he didn't have time to spend the money.

Gaara spent most of his time in bars. Trying to forget the things that had happened to him. Being back with people showed him that after a war was over people stopped giving a shit about the soldiers. To them he was no one. In Suna he had been able to operate tanks, helecopters, heavy weapons, he had killed more people than these guys had friends. Yet he was still nothing in their eyes.

He was nothing to everyone but Neji. Neji was the only person who Gaara felt important to.

He was sitting at the bar when a man wobbeled up to him.

"Hey faggot. Move over so my friend an I can sit down." Gaara looked over his shoulder at the man, he went back to his whiskey and the guy hit him with his beer bottle effectivly breaking the glass on his head. "Didn't you hear me? I said move the fuck over."

"I've killed people for less, I would suggest finding somewhere else to sit." Gaara said looking right into the mans eyes with a cold glare. It was as if the temperature of the room had dropped below freezing and every eye in the bar was on them.

"I don't think you get it. DO you know who I AM?" The man went on. Gaara had stopped listening and returned once more to the glass of whiskey in front of him.

"I am Sasuke UCHIHA! I run the biggest company in the world!" the man shouted. Gaara turned around and found Sasuke and Naruto behind him. He hadn't even recognized him.

"Who the fuck are you calling a faggot. I know for a fact that you've taken it up the ass more times than I have." Gaara said not even looking back. "By the way are you so drunk you don't recognize me?" he asked.

Sasuke was more confused than he'd ever been in his life. He had no idea who this red-headed boy was.

"Holy shit, its Gaara." Naruto whispered.

Sasukes eyes went wide, he had just called a decorated SEAL a faggot, not to mention his friend.

They sat down on the other side of Gaara who had ordered another glass.

"Holy shit man I'm sorry." Sasuke said. "I had no idea it was you, Naruto barely even recognized you." Sauske said.

"It is what it is." Gaara said taking another drink from his glass. "But if you called me a faggot again, I will kill you." he looked Sasuke dead in the eye as he said it and Sasuke had never been more afraid of a person in his life.

"So what have you been up to since you got back?" Naruto asked trying to break the ice with his old friend.

"Getting drunk. Having incredibly sex, and then getting drunk again." Gaara said setting his glass down. "Bartender. Lets do that one more time." he said. She was over and refilled his glass. "This is the only place in town were veterans drink for free all night." Gaara said with a sly smile. He had been there since Neji left for class.

"You look like you've had way to much." Naruto said.

"You would want to have way to much if you had seen the shit I've seen." Gaara said into his glass.

"What have you seen that's so bad." Sasuke scoffed. Gaara and Naruto both gave him a disbelieving look.

"Have you ever seen what a .50 caliber bullet does to a person's head?" Gaara asked. When both men shook their heads to say they haven't Gaara continued. "They explode. Have you ever felt what its like to have a bullet tear through your stomach, ever feel a knife go in between your ribcage? Know what its like to feel like you're drowning yet know you aren't underwater?" Gaara went on and on until both men looked at him like he was crazy, and maybe he was.

"I know what its like. Everyone of those fucking things have happened to me. And I get back here and I get treated like shit by everyone and their mothers. Over there I was somebody important, here I'm just another piece of shit on the street." Gaara said setting his empty glass down. "Bartender, let's do that one more time."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, both knowing full well that any pain they had ever faced in their lives Gaara had in worse. "Well we'll just go now." Naruto said.

"Take it easy Gaara, try not to hurt yourself." Sasuke said as they stood up and walked away.

Across the room a man in a black suit with red eyes watched Gaara, he was exactly what his operation needed, a man with a certain set of skills. A man who knew how to get shit done.

Gaara downed the drink in two gulps. "Bartender let's do that one more time."


	6. Chapter 6

**I feel the need to apologize to anyone who reads my other fics. I have become so wrapped up in this one I haven't been working on the other ones. I will try and pump this one out as fast as I can without sacrificing its quality and get back to all my other ones. I hope you guys enjoy this story. I really like writing it. **

Lay Me Down

chapter 6

Gaara sat on the couch with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and his journal in the other. Rereading the things he had been through now that he'd been home for a while brought a new perspective to them. He had literally been through hell in Suna, he had slept in a desert for almost a year, he had killed more people than he could count, he had been shot, stabbed, had the shit kicked out of him, and worst of all, to him anyway, he had led men to their deaths. That was the kicker for Gaara, he was the only original member of the first SEAL team he had been apart of.

He felt a tear roll down his eye as he though of the men he had served with who didn't have this, the ones who died in the sand, or executed like dogs. Why was he so fucking lucky?

Neji walked in the apartment unbeknownst to Gaara, who was so caught up in going through the shit he had locked up he didn't notice the man. Neji sat down next to him on the couch and Gaara hugged him, he hugged him so tightly it became very hard to Neji to breath, but he weathered it, he held Gaara there for what seemed like hours. Gaara sobbed uncontrollably, it was something Neji had never seen before, the strongest man he knew was broken and he had no idea how to help him.

Gaara was mumbling incoherently. Neji couldn't make out a single word he was saying, and he tried, but it was to muffled by the sobs. Neji just held him, hoping that sooner or later Gaara would be able to calm down enough to talk to him. He would listen to anything the red-head had to say, and accept it when Gaara didn't want to talk about something.

After an hour of crying Gaara calmed down enough to throw Neji his journal. Gaara took a swig of whiskey and then closed his eyes. He wasn't asleep and Neji knew it, he just didn't want to see Neji as he read his journal. There were things in there that Neji shouldn't have seen, things that legally Gaara wasn't supposed to tell people, like when they naturalized a high-ranking official from Otagakure, Orochimaru was his name, Gaara had put a bullet right between his eyes.

The things Gaara did, and that had been done to him. The torture, the rigorous training, things that had been done to him by his own military to make sure he didn't say anything had he been captured. His men dying, him almost dying to save his men. Everything that had happened while in Suna for the military was written down in the book now in Nejis hands.

Neji had a horrified look on his face, and he gripped Gaara tighter. He would never let something like this happen to Gaara again. He couldn't believe half of the things he read, but knew Gaara wouldn't have talked about them if they weren't true.

Gaara fell asleep with his head on Nejis lap, Neji felt him start shaking, before Neji held him until he calmed down, 'he must be having dreams about some of this stuff. That must be why he drinks so much, but who could blame him, who would want to think about this stuff all the time?' Neji thought to himself.

Neji eventually passed out like that, holding Gaara on the couch.

The next morning Gaara woke up and Neji was gone, he had left a sticky note on the front of his journal that read.

"Had to leave for class, didn't want to wake you. Have an amazing day. I love you." Gaara couldn't help but smile as he read it. He stretched and laid back out on the couch. He would wait a few hours before going to the bar, when he got there he found ever seat at the bar was taken. He sat down at a table and a waitress came over to him.

"What can I get you today sweetheart?" she asked.

"four fingers of whiskey." He responded mechanically, he showed her his veterans card and then the drinks began flowing. Everything seemed to be fine, the bar was relatively quiet, no one had given Gaara a hard time, but then things changed, a loud and obnoxious blonde man walked into the bar with another guy who talked in the third person. His name seemed to be Tobi.

Gaara had not paid any attention to him, but he seemed to gravitate towards Gaara anyway.

"What going on hotsuff?" the blonde man asked. "I'm Deidara, and I'm guessing you already know this is Tobi." he said sitting down across from Gaara. Gaara waved the waitress over who left the bottle of whiskey at Gaaras table. He poured himself a glass and then set the bottle back down on the table.

"What aren't you going to offer me some?" Deidara asked with a smirk.

"I prefer to drink alone." Gaara replied gruffly.

"You need to lighten up sweetheart." Deidara said. "You look a little tense maybe I could help you out?" he said with a wink.

Gaara couldn't help but laugh. It came out more as a chuckle then a laugh, Deidara got mad, "What am I not your type or something?"

"You're not six foot five with chocolate brown hair so no you are not my type." Gaara said curtly.

"Well you don't have to be such a dickhead." Tobi yelled. The red-head gave him a glare and he bcked down immediately. "He reminds me of Sasori." he said frightened. Deidara seemed to find that funny.

"He does doesn't he? Maybe that's why I seemed to gravitate towards him. Were you in the military? Sasori was. He died in Suna though." he said somewhat sadly, yet still openly flirting.

Sasori seemed very familiar and that's when it hit him. Sasori was one of the guys in his original team.

"You knew Sasori?" Gaara asked.

"Knew him? Honey I was fucking him." Deidara said.

Gaara looked down into his glass and chugged the rest of the whiskey before pouring yet another glass. This time offering Deidara the bottle afterwards.

"I served with him. He was in my team." Gaara said quietly. Deidara had a sad look in his eyes.

"Could you tell me what happened? I'd like to know." Deidara said quietly.

Gaara started recounting the events that had transpired before Sasori had been killed. It brought back a lot of awful memories.

"We were in Suna, at a conference providing sniper support for the commander-in-chief. We started taking fire, the commander got out but we didn't." Gaara started. "Sasori and I were part of Alpha team, each SEAL team had six people each broken up into three two-man groups." Gaara explained. "We had to run from rooftop to rooftop to get to the extraction point, we met up with the rest of the squad less than a mile from the rendezvous. That's where we got pinned down under heavy fire. The team was new, Sasori and I had worked together though for a few months though at that point. They decided to initiate a firefight on the rooftops without any actual cover. I was the only one to make it out." Gaara finished. He didn't want to go into the being tortured, or how Sasori was executed. He just met this guy.

Gaara caught a glimpse of a tear rolling down Deidaras eye.

"Thank you for telling me." Deidara said. But then the mood was ruined by a very drunk man.

"This place isn't for faggots!" he yelled at the Deidara, and before Tobi could stand up to defend Deidara, Gaara had stood up.

"I'd really rather you not call him a faggot." Gaara said coldly, but it seems his coldness was wasted on the drunk man.

"Why is you his boyfriend." he slurred.

"What I am is a friend of his boyfriend. Who died. In Suna." he said with as much venom as he could muster. The man looked taken aback, then he got angry again.

"I didn't know they let fags in the military." he spit.

Gaara had enough, he picked up the now empty bottle of whiskey and with all his force smacked the drunk in the side of his face with the bottle. Effectively breaking it, shattered glass littered the floor. The waitresses screamed and everyone jumped as a huge man walked up to Gaara.

"That was my friend you just smacked." he said. His deep voice rumbling. Gaara did not overestimate himself in the slightest when he decided he could take him.

The giant of a man through a punch and Gaara let it hit. He staggered back and the giant laughed. "What aren't you even going to put up a fight now?" he asked.

Gaara laughed, a real laughed, he hadn't had a good laugh in so long. It was like something inside of him came alive again. He walked up to the giant.

"You hit like a little bitch." he spat. He dodged the next swing and landed an uppercut on the giant. The bigger man staggered back completely surprised by the pure strength of the much smaller red-head. Gaara was on him in a second, everyone was stunned, they had come to know Gaara as a drunk. They never would have guessed he was anything else.

Gaara hit the giant in the stomach and he doubled over, he hit him with another uppercut and now the giant was on his back. By this time the man whose head Gaara broke the whiskey bottle on was standing up and he ran over and pulled Gaara off of the giant.

"Jugo, lets kick his ass!" the white-haired man yelled. The giant named Jugo wobbled to his feet. At that point in time Gaara was being held by a giant of a man and getting his ass kicked by the tall white-haired man.

"You should put my friend down." a voice came from the other side of the room. There was no emotion in the voice, as if he didn't really care if they stopped or not, but since he went out of his way to say anything in the first place they had better listen.

Jugo and the white-haired man, Gaara later found out his name was Kimimaro. Looked over where the voice came from to find a man in a black suit. He had a very expensive black suit, no tie, but what identified him were his eyes, his deep red eyes. One look at him and everyone knew who he was. Itachi Uchiha.

The two men let him go and all but ran out of the building.

"Thanks." Gaara muttered. Itachi walked over to him and stretched out his hand, helping the smaller red head up.

"No thanks necessary." Itachi said. His voice was emotionless the whole conversation. Itachi helped Gaara over to the table he was sitting at with Deidara and Tobi.

So Deidara sat across from Gaara, and Itachi sa across from Tobi.

"Well thank you for telling me that story. I'm glad I wont be the only one to remember him." Deidara said. He waved to Gaara and Itachi before leaving the bar.

"Did you send him in here with that retard? And those other guys to kick my ass?" Gaara asked the raven haired man.

"I think you believe I am capable of much more than I actually am." Itachi responded.

"So what do you want? I doubt you are here because you like the atmosphere." Gaara said.

"Vets drink free." Itachi responded with something dangerously close to a smile.

"Seriously, why are you here." Gaara asked. It wasn't that he was tired of game, he was, but he was just too drunk to care.

"Well. I find myself in need of a man with, how can you say, a certain skill set." Itachi said mulling over a glass of fine wine, while Gaara was drinking whiskey right out of the bottle. "It pays very well, and it comes with respect." the red-eyed man continued.

"Well I must say, you have a great pitch, but whats the catch?" Gaara asked.

"You can't be afraid of getting your hands dirty." Itachi said.

"Well you seem to be in luck there, my hands haven't been clean in a very long time." Gaara responded.


	7. Chapter 7

**Gah I love this story, I hope you guys like it just as much. I had originally wrote it as a one-shot but I liked the idea so much I decided to make it into a multi-chapter story. There's going to be a lot more where this came from, and things are going to get really crazy. Please enjoy, and leave reviews please, they make me feel better about myself .**

* * *

Lay Me Down

chapter 7

Gaara stumbled into the apartment well after midnight. Neji had been waiting for him for hours, but he knew Gaara had a lot of problems. He was broken inside and it would take a long for him to feel any better.

"So how was your night?" Neji asked Gaara, who had sat down on the couch next to him. He reeked of alcohol and pot, but as he looked the redhead over he noticed bruises that weren't there this morning, and he had a split lip and a black eye. Gaara had gotten into a bar brawl or his name wasn't Neji Hyuga.

"It was interesting." Gaara said.

"Want to talk about it?" Neji asked. He made sure not to sound like he was pushing him to talk, but as if he was genuinely interested, and he was.

"I got a job offer, but the work wouldn't be exactly legal." Gaara said.

"Well, I am going to end up keeping criminals out of prison, so at least if you get caught you wouldn't have to look hard for a lawyer." Neji smirked. He knew Gaara wasn't joking, but if Gaara was going to do something stupid like this he had to let him make the decision on his own. If he pushed him not to do it he might as well just tell him flat-out he should go for it.

Neji didn't want to see Gaara hurt anymore, but he wasn't in control of that. All he knew was Gaara was in a really bad place, and he couldn't live without the red-head at this point. Neji was going to stick with him through it all.

Gaara was relieved when Neji cracked a joke about the situation. He still wasn't sure what he was going to, but it was nice to know that Neji would have his back.

"I need to quit drinking." Gaara said as he jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen and got to the sink just in time before he threw up a days worth of liqur.

Neji stood up and walked over to Gaara and began rubbing his back as he heaved into the sink time after time. Neji was surprised he even made it home in one piece after drinking that much.

Gaara turned on the sink and washed out his mouth. He turned around to face Neji and wrapped his arms around him. He just wanted to stay like that forever. There was a knock on the door and neither of them wanted to get it, but it seemed whoever was there wasn't going away anytime soon. So Neji went to open the door.

"Naruto?" Neji asked. Gaara stumbled over to the door and saw Naruto there.

"I came to check on Gaara, I'm friends with a few people who work at the bar he goes to and they said he got into a pretty wicked fight." he said.

Gaara stumbled over to the door, his button up shirt open to reveal scars and bruises, most old but some new. He was still out of his mind drunk, but he could almost walk a straight line.

"Last time I saw you your boyfriend called me a faggot." Gaara slurred the words so badly Naruto could barely understand him.

"He didn't know it was you." Naruto exclaimed.

"But it doesn't bother you that he says that?" Neji asked, Gaara was too drunk to argue right now so Neji took over much to the red-heads appreciation.

"It's just a word." Naruto said.

"A word rooted in hate and discrimination." Neji retorted.

"I don't see a problem with it." Naruto shrugged. What had bothered him most about that night was when Gaara had said he'd killed people for less.

"In suna a guy called me a fag once." Gaara said, now somewhat clearer. "My whole team got together and kicked his ass. When I say we kicked his ass, I mean we beat him to within an inch of his life. I had to pull the other guys off of him so he wouldn't die." Gaara finished sitting down on the couch.

"I killed people just because the military told me to. If you don't think I wouldn't go through with doing something just because Sasuke used to be my friend a long time ago you better think again. There were three people there at the Airport when I got back Naruto, and you and Sasuke weren't one of them!" Gaara screamed. Naruto and Sasuke had been his best friends in high school, and they had all but forgotten about him. While he was protecting their freedoms in war they were getting drunk and having a great time.

"WE didn't know you were going to be back!" Naruto responded almost as loudly.

"I called Sasuke, Naruto." Neji added. "I told him when we were going to meet Gaara and at what Airport." he finished.

Naruto was dumbstruck. He had no idea that Sasuke intentionally chose not to see Gaara. He would have to have a talk with the man.

"I'm sorry." Naruto mumbled.

"Get the fuck out." Gaara said not even looking at him.

"Fine, I'll see you in class tomorrow." he said dejectedly looking at Neji. Who was also furious with him, he was just more civil about it then his red-headed boyfriend.

After Naruto left Gaaras cell phone started ringing, Iron Man by Black Sabbath was his ringtone. He looked at the cracked touch screen and answered it.

"Hello?" Gaara asked.

"I have some work for you to do tomorrow if your interested." a cold voice said on the other line. Gaara could immediately tell it was Itachi.

"I'm assuming you'll want to meet up before hand as to not discuss the simple business transaction over the phone." Gaara said.

"You pick up on things quite fast my new friend. Meet me at the bar you usually go to." Itachi said and he hung up the phone.

"Well looks like I have to go to work tomorrow." Gaara said leaning back in his chair. He was fine with illegal and questionably immoral. He had always lived his live in shades of grey. He wasn't sure how Neji would like dating a criminal, but that would be a conversation for another time.

The next day Gaara woke up fresh and ready for anything. Yes, he was one of those assholes that didn't suffer from hangovers. He did his morning workout, and he ate a few pieces of toast and put on some decent clothes. A black button up shirt and a pair of black slacks and black dress shoes. It didn't matter what Itachi had for him to do, he was ready for it, and he would do it to the best of his ability just as he did everything else.

He got to the bar and everyone was actually staring at him. He cleaned up nice and everyone could see. They were used to a redhead that drank until he puked and then drank some more. Dirty clothes and muddy shoes. This red-head was not the same one that was usually in here.

He found Itachi and took a seat across from him and the orange haired man next to him.

"Gaara this is Pein. He will be running an errand for me, the people he will be meeting with are questionable to say the least. I want you to go with him and make sure he comes back. I do not care how you make sure he gets back, but if one hair is missing without him saying its okay, both of us will be very dead, very quickly." Itachi said, stressing the "Both of us" part.

This was obviously important and Itachi wanted to put Gaara to the test. Gaara nodded, he would do whatever he needed to do to get the respect he felt he deserves.

"Do NOT open it until you get outside and into Peins car." Itachi ordered. That was something Gaara was used to, taking orders. He was a soldier through and through. Once again Gaara nodded and then Itachi stood up and with a nod to Pein and Gaara he left.

"So if you're going to be the one to protect me I think I want to know more about you." Pein said. Eying up Gaara.

"I served in SEAL team one for almost two years." Gaara started. "I've got more confirmed kills than any other soldier in the SEAL program. I've been shot, stabbed, tortured, and I killed my own father. I think that this job will be a walk in the park." Gaara said.

What took Pein by surprise was that the redheads voice held no confidence, it was as if he was stating cold hard facts. He realized he had never even met a SEAL team member.

"What was your rank in the military?" Pein asked.

"I was promoted to a Master Sergeant before I got shipped home. I was the leader of my SEAL team." Gaara said, once again in a cold hard voice. It made Pein shiver. He never felt fear like this before. He would rather piss off every Chechen he would ever meet then get on Gaaras bad side.

"Well, we should probably get going. These guys aren't going to wait around all day." Pein said, and the two got up and left.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Peins BMW Gaara opened the envelope to find his payment for this job, and a Colt .45. It was all black and it was heavy as a brick, but thats what you got when you had a .45 caliber. He put the gun back in the envelope.

"You aren't going to take a gun?" Pein asked. Gaara smirked at the older man.

"I never go anywhere without a gun." he said pulling his Glock 22 from behind his back. Standard issue for everyone in the Konoha military. He had killed four Suna soldiers before he had found it after he had been captured.

Another hour car ride and Gaara found himself at a run down apartment building in a really bad part of town. THis place made Kankuros look like a palace. Pein got out and pulled a briefcase out of the backseat. Gaara walked next to the much taller man. They got to the top of the stairs to find three men with fully automatic weapons. As soon as then got around the corner the weapons were trained on them. Gaara didn't do anything stupid, he could never draw down on three men with fully automatic rifles, it just wasn't going to work.

"No Guns." one of the men said with a thick Chechnyan accent.

"Well we aren't going to give you our weapons if you guys have weapons." Pein said.

That didn't go over well. The three men raised their weapons and Gaara reacted on pure instinct. Bullets ripped through the wall behind them, but not one hit. Gaara had grabbed Pein and the two were now flat on the ground. Gaara squeezed off three shots and each hit a Chechen in the dead center of their face.

"Holy shit." Pein said. "How did you know they were going to shoot?" He asked.

"Instinct. They were going to shoot at us no matter what. I could feel it." Gaara shrugged. He had been taught how to read people during his time in Suna. He had grilled a number of people for information. High profile targets that he was told to take alive.

Gaara grabbed one of the MP5Ks off a dead Chechnyan, and kicked in the door. They found four Chechens sitting at a poker table playing cards. It seemed they had no problems with what took place outside their door, but their mouths dropped at seeing the red-head.

"It seems we have some business to discuss gentlemen." Pein said sitting down at the table with the other men. Gaara stood behind him his hand on the trigger of the MP5K ready for anyone to do something stupid.

"You weren't supposed to be able to make it past the door!" one of the men shouted with a thick accent.

"Well you wouldn't have known about my friend Gaara here. Itachi Uchiha sent him with me as a personal favor. You know those Chechen criminals you had watching the door. How long do you think it took Gaara here to kill them?" Pein said. A wicked glint to his eyes. Gaara knew that look well, he had given it and received it many a time.

"What do you want?" one of the men asked.

"Well I wanted to have a meeting like civilized people. Not like monkeys from Suna. My apologies Gaara."

"None taken, I was born in Suna but this is my home." Gaara replied, his body still on alert for anything.

It was at that moment two men came out of the bathroom behind Gaara with weapons raised. In an instant their bodies were on the ground, Gaara had heard them and put three bullets in their heads each. He had been waiting for them to come out. He had heard them moving around for the last five minutes.

"Well it seems you though I may have made it past your guards out front." Pein said with a smile.

The men all let out sighs. They had such high hopes for the men Gaara had just put down like dogs. They were some of their best shots.

"Don't feel bad. I doubt anyone in the country is as good a shot as Gaara. He was a SEAL in the Konoha military. That's why he works for Itachi. He's the best at what he does." Pein said with his hand on the man to his left arm.

Pein immediately jumped to business.

"Well I am going to need to talk to Ned." Pein said. The four men immediately sat up. The one everyone else seemed to be looking at nodded and stood up and walked over to the phone.

"Ned, Pein is here, he wants to talk to you. In person." the man said in Chechnyan. He hung up the phone and walked back over to the table. "He will be here soon."

"Good." Pein said. That was in, Gaara took a seat in a corner of the room as to be able to have everything in his sights. 'God this is some crazy shit of my first day.' Gaara thought to himself, but as he thought more he realized he wasn't freaking out or anything, he was as calm as can be considering he just shot five men.

A tall, older, brownish/blonde haired man walked in and sat down at the head of the table. He had been in this game for a very long time. He had accumulated more respect then Itachi, but he had made his name in America.

"Eddard." Pein said.

Immediately the Chechens started shouting about this, that, and anything else. Ned, or Eddard as Pein called him, raised his hands to quiet the men. Gaara had no clue as to why he lead a group of Chechens, but he must have done something to earn their respect.

"I like your bodyguard." Eddard said. "He is quiet, and you can tell by looking at him that he is a strong man, he looks like he knows what he is doing." Eddard finished.

"Well I am paying Itachi very well for the use of him." Pein said.

"So he works for Itachi huh?" Eddard said.

"So about these properties that Hidan bought from you." Pein said.

"No no no." Eddard said. "I already told him, he needs to pay up by the end of the month. He made a deal Pein. He needs to learn to keep his word." Eddard concluded.

"That I am not debating, but you can not go after Hidan, he has left my protection." Pein said.

"So how is that bad, it will no longer effect you if I kill him." Eddard said.

"No, it will not effect me if you kill him, but it will affect Itachi. Hidan has joined up with Itachi, and you already know if Itachi calls for me, I come running. He runs a criminal conglomerate Eddard. I know you and your boys aren't from around here, but if you attack someone under his protection, its over for you." Pein said.

"I will think what you have said over my friend." Eddard replied.

"That is all I ask." Pein said standing up, and Gaara stood up and followed him out.

"Well that went better than expected." Pein said.

"I don't understand whats going on." Gaara said. "Itachi told me that if anything happened to you we would all die, but if that guy were to attack Itachi he wouldn't stand a chance."

"You misunderstood him. Itachi was making a joke. Stick with him long enough and you'll see what I mean, his voice rarely ever changes." Pein said.

"So you mean to tell me the ever stoic Itachi Uchiha was cracking a joke?" Gaara asked.

"That is exactly what I am saying. He was trying to say if anything happened to me while under his protection then my wife would find all of you and kill you." Pein said. "Well honestly I doubt she could kill you or Itachi, but she would make it very hard to do business." Pein finished.

'Well this has been one hell of a day.' Gaara thought to himself. 'I could get used to this'

He sat down in Peins car and pulled the money out of the envelope. He began counting it and Pein threw down five hundred-dollar bills.

"A hundred a head." he said. "That's Itachis usually price when a guy he sends me has to kill someone." he added.

He got payed 32,500 dollars for one day of work. He had never actually seen that much money before, he has seen his bank receipts but never actually all the money.

Pein dropped him off at the bar and drove off. Gaara walked in to find Itachi sitting in one corner, and Sasuke in Naruto siting in the other. The two young men looked at Gaara who was dressed very nicely for just coming to the bar, before their mouths hit the ground as he brushed them off and sat down across from Itachi.

"I saw my brother looking at you." Itachi said.

"No offense but fuck your brother." Gaara retorted.

"No offense taken. He's a hypocrite. He runs our families business which all but runs the country. Its corrupt to the core and they wonder why I do this kind of work. I'm honest about who I am I don't put on a suit and pretend as if I'm not robbing the common man of his money. I only rob other criminals. Sometimes people or shops come to my men to provide protection, but they pay us only a small fee, and I take no percentage of what that man makes." Itachi said.

Gaara had never heard Itachi talk so much in his life, but Gaara found he could agree with everything that he agreed with everything he had said.

"Look go buy yourself a suit, and meet me here tomorrow, Pein told me how the job went and I was very impressed. I think you could do great things for this organization Gaara," Itachi said. He stood up and shook the red-heads hand.

Gaara sat back down after Itachi left, only to have Naruto and Sasuke in his face, not five minutes after he left. Gaara waved over a waitress who carried a bottle of Jack Daniels.

"Thanks." Gaara said politely.

"Just let me know if there's anything I can do for you sweetheart." the woman replied.

"What the fuck was that all about?!" Naruto yelled. Not referring to the woman but the meeting with Itachi.

"I was sure Neji would have told you. His brother offered me a job the other day. I was inclined to accept and I find I actually have quite a lot in common with the man." Gaara said as he drank a glass of whiskey.

"Bullshit." Sasuke said. "You have nothing more in common with the man as he does me."

"That's where you're wrong again." Gaara replied. He took another swig of his whiskey. "I find you both to be very much alike, except he is more of a gentleman" Gaara said, he was quite happy to see how the younger Uchiha reacted. Gaara could see Sasuke had a few things he wanted to say to him.

"Fuck you. You have no idea what you're talking about. He's killed people." Sasuke yelled.

"So have I." Gaara said standing up. "I think you should go." he said. Naruto seemed to be the only one of the two with any sense and dragged Sasuke out of the bar.

Gaara sat down and drank another glass of whiskey before going home.

He got home and was quite proud of himself, he had only drank half of the bottle, he was barely even drunk when he walked in the door with the envelope.

"Whats that?" Neji asked.

"My paycheck." Gaara said with a smirk as he dumped the contents onto the kitchen table. Neji stared wide-eyed. He was quite impressed, there had to have been at least 30,000 dollars there.

"Im not even going to ask." Neji said.

"I think that would be best, but if you ever want to know, I'll tell you." Gaara said walking up to Neji and kissing him. Neji kissed back, he had missed Gaara, and he didn't even mind the whiskey on his breath.


	8. Chapter 8

Lay Me Down

chapter 8

Gaara and Neji sat on the couch, Neji was studying for his midterm and Gaara was watching the news. He had a beer in hand and thats when he saw something that caught his eye.

"Breaking new, today five chechen bodies were found in the river, the water had made it impossible to identify them, or be able to find whoever committed these horrid crimes." the newscaster said.

"Well shit." Gaara said taking a swig of his beer.

"What?" Neji asked, oblivious to the news.

"You sure you want to know?" Gaara asked.

Neji waved it off and went back to his school work. It was early. Gaara had to go buy a suit before he met up with Itachi this afternoon.

"Well I gotta go." Gaara said standing up. It was almost 9:30 and he didn't want to be late.

"Well I'll see you tonight." Neji said standing up and kissing his boyfriend. "Maybe when you get home we can both go out to the bar. I haven't had time to have a whole lot of fun." he said.

Gaara returned the kiss. "I would like that." He said. He went into his room, grabbed his Glock 22, and grabbed the envelope. He walked down the street to the used car dealer. They took cash, and sold on the spot. He found an old '69 Chevy Camaro, he was asking 4,500 for it, so Gaara walked up to the man and handed him the money.

15 minutes later Gaara was driving down the street. The car was nothing special, but it had potential. He had enough money to put into it, and the experience to do most of the work himself.

He drove into the city and pulled into a store called, Persius, it was where the rich businessmen bought their suits. Gaara walked in and both of the men who worked there gave him a look. They were probably worried he would try to rob the place. Gaara shook his head and went and found an all black Armani suit. It cost more than the car he just bought. He walked up to the counter with it.

The man rang up the suit, the total came out to be 4,699 dollars. "Um, are you sure you have this kind of money?" the man asked looking Gaara over.

Gaara glared at him and pulled out 4,700 dollars out of the envelope. The man was flabbergasted to say the least. Gaara went back into the changing room and out the suit on, he bundled up the shitty work clothes he had worn there and dumped them into the trashcan on the way out.

He jumped into his car feeling like a million bucks. He peeled out of the parking lot and drove to the bar. He walked in and all the women who worked there were literally drooling over the redhead.

"Well it seems you clean up quite nice." Itachi said as Gaara sat down.

"Well I've never had a reason to before now." Gaara said. He pulled off the shades he bought to go along with the suit. "So what's the plan for today?" Gaara asked.

"Right to business I like that." Itachi said. "Well I assume you know the situation with Hidan since you went with Pein yesterday." Itachi said. Gaara nodded. "Good, because you are going to kill Hidan." Itachi said. He was pleasantly surprised with Gaaras reaction.

If he had a problem with killing Hidan his face didn't show it. Itachi continued. "You are going to go over to his house, he has a meeting with Eddard, the leader of the Chechens you met with yesterday, but he's going to have an 'accident' when you get there." Itachi said. "He sleeps in the river tonight, or you don't see a dime." Itachi finished.

Gaara nodded. He had no problem with killing a man who couldn't pay his debts.

"Consider it done." Gaara said.

"Good, Eddard is paying a lot of money to have this done. He is a smart man." Itachi said. Gaara stood up and shook Itachis hand. "Come back here when its done. I'll have the money." Itachi said and Gaara was off.

Gaara drove into a slum on the other side of town, Itachi had sent him a text message with the address. It was a safe house he used to hide men of his that had been marked for death by other organizations. He pulled up and Hidan ran out and jumped in the car. Itachi had called ahead and told Hidan what to look for.

"Hidan." the man said extending his hand.

"Gaara." the redhead said taking the hand and shaking it.

"So tell me about yourself Gaara, I'd like to know who's going to have my back going into this thing." Hidan said.

"I served in the military for two years." Gaara said swerving in and out of traffic. He drove like a bat out of hell and was going well over the posted speed limit. "SEAL program." he finished. He had hoped that spoke for itself.

"Well I guess you know how to handle yourself in any kind of situation huh?" Hidan said.

"Sea, air, or land." Gaara said.

"Good to know." Hidan said.

The rest of the ride was quiet. Gaara pulled off he road and towards the canal l. He knew the place well, he and walked up and down it hundreds of times when he was in high school.

"Where is this cocksucker." Hidan said looking at his watch. They had pulled up to find none of the Chechens were here yet. Gaara looked off into the distance and saw headlights. Three Mercedes Benz SLK 500s. All black with tinted windows. They pulled up and Eddard got out and shook Gaaras hand.

Just as Hidan was about to speak Gaara pulled out his Glock and pistol whipped him.

"What the fuck?" he yelled as he hit the ground. "Itachi will kill you if you hurt me."

"You fucking idiot." Eddard said looking at Hidan. "I paid Itachi to have you killed. You really think he wouldn't sell you out for the right price. The only catch was it had to be one of his men who pulled the trigger." He nodded to Gaara. He pulled the chamber back on the Glock and drug Hidan to Eddards feet.

"Please, I'll pay you back." Hidan cried.

"Why must you be such a pussy?" Eddard asked kneeling down to look Hidan in the eye. "There is nothing you can do now but die." He stood up and nodded to Gaara once more.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Gaara whispered in to Hidans ear and he put the gun up to the back of his head, and without a moment's hesitation he squeezed the trigger and Hidan hit the ground. Eddard motioned to his men and they threw Hidans body into the canal.

"Thank you." Eddard said, "If you ever decide to have a change of heart about employers you know where to find me." he said and he walked off. Gaara was glad and hoped it would be the last time, the older man gave him the creeps.

Gaara sat in his car in the parking lot of the bar cleaning his pistol, it had always been a relaxing activity and that was no different now. He put in in the holster on his side and buttoned his suit jacket up. He stepped out to a "ooo" and "Ahh" from the woman and angry looks from men. They were scared he would take their women, who wouldn't be? Gaara was incredibly good-looking and he knew it.

He sat down across from Itachi and nodded. "Its done." he said.

"Good." he said sliding another envelope across the table. "Your cut of what Ned paid." he said. Gaara put the envelop in the inside pocket of his jacket.

Sauske and Naruto were sitting on the other side of the bar again, and they too noticed the dressed to kill, in more ways than one, redhead walk into the bar. Sasuke was seething as he watched Gaara move from the door to Itachis table without so much as looking at the two of them.

Itachi shook Gaaras hand and then he left leaving the redhead at the table by himself, he didn't have to wave the waitress over, or show her his veterans card, she brought him over a bottle of whiskey and a glass. He pulled out his phone and saw it was almost five and was quite proud of himself. He hadn't had a drink all day until now. He poured a glass and took out his phone.

"Hey." Neji said answering his phone. "You at the bar?" He asked.

"Yeah, wanted to know if you were going to come or not?" Gaara asked. He was looking forward to Neji seeing him looking this good. Neji always liked when Gaara looked good. He told him he should wear a suit more often, now he had a reason to.

"Yeah I'm on my way there now." He said.

"Good I'll see you when you get here." Gaara replied.

"okay, see you then. Love you." Neji said.

"Love you to." Gaara said, his turning red. He had never said it in public before but it felt kind of nice. He was officially letting everyone in the bar know he was off the market, though he had been since high school.

Gaara drank that glass and Neji walked in as he was pouring another one. He walked over completely blowing off Naruto and Sasuke and sat down next to Gaara. His eyes wide at the sight of a well dressed Subaku.

"Well you dressed to kill huh?" he said not even seeing the irony in his question.

Luckily the waitress walked over and smiled at Neji.

"What can I get for you sweet thing." she asked.

"Hmm, I'll take a Vodka and Coke." he said polietly.

"Sure thing cutey." she said with a wink and went to get his drink.

"She's flirting with you harder than she does with me." Gaara said taking a swig of whiskey.

"Well she's probably been flirting with you since you starting coming here, I haven't been here in forever. I'm fresh meat." he said with a smile that broke down the icy shell Gaara put up to be able to do his job. Gaara smiled back and gripped Nejis hand. "Rough day?" Neji asked.

"manageable." Gaara replied.

"Well maybe if you didn't work for a Yakuza kingpin maybe your life would be a bit easier." Sasuke said standing behind Neji.

"I didn't come here to get a lecture about my lifestyle choice." Gaara said finishing the glass of whiskey in front of him. The waitress came out with Nejis drink and her face fell somewhat upon seeing his and Gaaras hand together but chose not to say anything.

"Well I just don't want to see you go down the same path as he did." Sasuke said.

"Why the do you even care? You didn't even show up when Gaara came back." Neji said. surprising both Naruto and Sasuke, they would have thought Neji would have been on their side of this argument. "Gaara is a grown man who has been through more than any of us can ever imagine. He can make his own decisions, and I'll will be there by his side through all of them." He said gripping Gaaras hand.

Gaara smiled at him, it was the only way, right now anyway, he knew how to thank him for those words. Sasuke seemed to get even angrier though as the argument went on. Eventually Gaara got sick of Sasuke running his mouth.

Gaara stood up and the whole room got quiet, and even Sasuke had stopped talking. He glared at the redhead though, the classic Uchiha glare, but no glare could stand up to a Subakus. Gaara had decided he wasn't going to glare though, he was going to wipe that look right off Sasukes face.

He grabbed Sasuke by the back of the neck, even though he was a good four or five inches shorter he drug sasuke outside into the parking lot.

"Aren't you going to stop him?" Naruto cried to Neji who seemed to be enjoying it as much as Gaara.

"Why?" Neji asked and Naruto was so taken aback by the question he dropped it and ran outside. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Gaara punched Sasuke in the mouth and the raven haired boy crumpled to the ground. He was a pretty big guy, but he had just been hit in the mouth by an ex-SEAL. He pulled Sasuke to his feet and pushed up against the wall of the bar and Sasuke couldn't help but and wonder why no one was helping him. Gaara pulled out his Glock and put it underneath Sasukes chin. Sasuke had never been more scared in his entire life.

"You are never going to come to this bar again." Gaara said. "I never want to hear your voice again in my life okay?" he said it as a question but Sasuke was smart enough to know it was rhetorical.

Gaara reholstered his weapon, and brushed past Naruto without even sparing him a look and went back inside and finished his drink with Neji.

Neji was taking a sip of his drink when Gaara sat down next to him.

"Well they shouldn't be a problem anymore." Gaara said. "I hope I didn't ruin anything." He said looking down at his glass. Neji took his hand in his.

"Not at all. Lets get out of here. I think we could both use a shower." He said. The way he said it made Gaara shiver. He knew he was about to have some of the most incredible sex of his life.

Neji did not dissapoint, that night they made love for hours. Gaara couldn't tell you what way was up and he was quite okay with that.

They laid there wrapped up in each others arms, Gaara wouldn't be able to move until the morning, but he was very much inclined to stay right where he was. Nejis face was burried in the crook of his neck and Gaara could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Neji couldn't believe it had been this long and every time he had sex with Gaara he felt like a little kid. Gaara was just so, he hated to use the word perfect, but that's just what Gaara was. Sure he had his shortcoming, everyone did, but Gaara managed to make them seem small and they went largely unnoticed by the much larger, chocolate brown-haired, creamy white eyed Neji Hyuga.

Neji was still buried deep inside the redhead as they laid in bed, they had started in the living room and moved to every other room in the apartment until they got to their bedroom and had a long shower.

Gaara laid there in Nejis arms and wondered to himself how he had gotten so lucky, how he had been gone for two years and Neji had waited for him, how he had gone and joined a criminal conglomerate, and Neji was still here for him.

For once in a long time, Gaara felt content with life and where it would take him.


	9. Chapter 9

Lay Me Down

chapter 9

Gaara woke up the next morning feeling very sore. He got up and saw he had a text message from Itachi.

_Meet me at the bar at 1_

-Itachi

Gaara stretched, he checked the clock on his phone and saw it was only 11. He had plenty of time to get ready. He started his morning work out and grabbed a quick shower before putting on a black button up shit, with the black Armani slacks, he strapped his shoulder holster on and holstered his Glock. He slipped the black jacket on and slipped on his black dress shoes.

He went out and got in his car he had parked in front of the apartment. He drove down to the garage one of his SEAL friends started after getting out of the military.

"Haku!" Gaara said seeing the tall girlish looking boy in the front office of the garage.

"Hello Gaara." Haku said with a smile. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Well I was looking to get some custom work down on my car and I remembered you saying you were going to start a garage when you got out." Gaara said.

Haku smiled again, "Zabuza! Get your ass in here!" he yelled.

"What the fuck are you yelling about boy!" a very large man grumbled as he walked into the room. He looked over the short redhead and looked back at Haku.

"He was looking to get an estimate on some custom work." Haku said.

"Year, make, and model." Zabuza said looking at Gaara.

"1969 Chevy Camaro." Gaara said. "Its kind of beat up, rusted out and it doesn't run as well as I'd like it to." he finished.

"Well let's go take a look at it." Zabuza said. They walked outside and he looked over the car for almost an hour. "Well to fix all the basic body work it'll cost you around two or three grand. What else did you want done?" Zabuza asked.

"Well right now it has a 300 small block in it, I wanted to see if you could open the car up more and put a 424 big block in it? Money is no problem." Gaara said.

"Well I'll look around for the best prices all the same. Just call and leave Haku a time for when you'll bring it in." Zabuza said shaking Gaaras hand.

Gaara sad goodbye to Haku and when he got in his car he looked at the radio and saw it was 12:30. He had just enough time to make it to the bar. He shot out of the garage parking lot and ended up at the bar with 15 minutes to spare.

He sat down at the usual table Itachi sat at. He waited for five minutes tops before Itachi showed up. Itachi looked pleased to see Gaara there early, though it was still hard to tell past his stoic face.

"Well it seems you put quite the scare into my brother." Itachi said with a very, very small smile. It was more of a twitch of his lips.

"He was very annoying after you left." Gaara said.

"Well, lets move on to business." Itachi said. "This is a bit different from the other jobs I've given you." Itachi went on. "I just want to get a gauge on your talents." Gaara nodded and Itachi continued.

"Good, there will be a shipment of weapons a rival triad is bringing into the city, as you may already know; its very hard to get guns for the general population to buy. They will make a fortune selling them. I would like you to acquire them for my organization." Itachi said, he sounded as if he was just talking about going to the store.

"What kind of weaponry should I have? How many men will be guarding it? Where and when will the shipment be coming in?" was all Gaara said, Itachi was very glad he had brought Gaara into his organization.

"I would take more than that pea-shooter." Itachi said, "Also I have reports of anywhere from 2 to 6 men guarding it. It will be coming in on the 'Last one over the moon" Itachi said with an almost snort, it was a ridiculous name for a boat. "It will be arriving at gate 452 at 2 in the morning, Orochimarus triad has already paid of the customs agents so they will let you go right through." Itachi responded.

Gaara nodded and stood up, he needed to get ready.

He found himself in Shinos basement after leaving the bar.

"Hows life treating you my friend." Shino said wrapping Gaara up in an awkward hug.

While in the military he smuggled weapons back to Konoha and had an arsenal in his basement that he sold exclusively to veterans. He asked no questions and he knew Gaara and gave him a discount. Gaara had bought his Glock 22 off of Shino.

"Not too bad." Gaara said with a smirk. "I need an M4 and a flak jacket." Gaara said.

"No problem." Shino said. He turned around and shouted, "Tenten! Bring me out an M4 and a military grade flak jacket, not one of those pussy SWAT grade ones!"

"Coming right up!" came a gruff female voice.

Gaara had no idea how Shino got away with talking like that to Tenten, she was the craziest bitch he had ever met in his life.

"Bring out a couple of boxes of ammo to!" Shino yelled.

Shino smiled at Gaara and then Tenten walked into the room with a brand new M4, it looked like it had never been fired. Along with what looked like a 100 pound flak jacket, but it was the same model he used in Suna so he knew there wouldn't be any problems with it.

"Well the ammos on the house, and your friend discount your totals 1500$." Shino said.

Gaara was blown away, an M4 on the street went for around 2500 by itself. He pulled out two grand and gave it to Shino, "Keep the change my friend." he said slinging the M4 over his shoulder and grabbed the flak jacket and the bag of ammo.

"I'll probably be shopping here a lot more from now on." he said as he walked out the door.

A few hours later it was pitch black and Gaara found himself at the docks. He was close to the shipping container and he knew it, there was a tracking device on the container and Itachi had the frequency to be able to track it.

Gaara was less than a yard away when a giant and a white-haired man walked out of one the containers. It was the same guys from the bar, Gaara shrugged and lined up his sights. He could take both of them down before they knew what hit them.

He tightened up the silencer and let a volley of shots off bringing both men down before they had time to catch a look at the redhead.

Gaara was blindsided, an orange haired girl tackled him and began reigning down strikes on his face. Gaara could feel blood running down his face, but he dropped his rifle and stuck his arm out effectively pushing the orange haired girl off him. He jumped up and took a stance. The girl was much stronger than her size made her seem, but she had also underestimated Gaara.

She went for a jab and Gaara dipped to the side and she stumbled towards him her arm out stretched past his head and he pulled out his Glock and put it under her chin, he pulled the trigger and walked away as if he had done nothing more than take out the trash.

He opened up the container and found not only the weapons cache but a blonde haired man tied up in the corner. He could almost have been mistaken for a woman, but being naked in a corner made it easy to determine it was really a man.

Gaara got a robe out of his car and cut the ropes off the blonde haired man.

"Did Itachi send you?" he asked desperately pulling on the robe.

"He sent me but only to get the weapons, he never said anything about you being here." Gaara responded lugging the weapons into the truck of his car. There were an assortment of weapons LMGs, SMGs, pistols, shotguns, even a few RPGs. He made sure to secure the weapons and then looked back at the blonde haired man.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked.

"My name is Rivu Asaian. I run a few of Itachis legitimate businesses." he said holding his hand out, Gaara took it and gave the man a firm handshake. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Names Gaara. I'm new to all this I guess." he said.

"Well it seems you at least know how to handle a weapon, those three where some of Orochimarus best." Rivu said.

Gaara said nothing and the two got in his car and they got out of there as fast as they could.

* * *

Asuma stood at the edge of the river. An empty shipping container at his back, and three dead bodies around it. It was only 9 in the morning and he already got called into work. Detective work always had varied hours.

"Detective, it seems this may have been a bootleg rescue mission." a woman with a pony tail shouted from in side the shipping container.

"Well do we know who was in here? Officer?" he asked not turning around to meet her gaze.

"Well I know the big one and the white-haired both have connection to Orochimarus syndicate. This orange haired girl is still being identified. I would assume Itachi Uchiha sent a button man to retrieve what or whoever was in this container." she said.

Asuma was kind of impressed if he told the truth. He had come to the same conclusion as soon as they had identified the two men as Orochimarus thugs.

"Well now all we need to do is prove that." Asuma said looking over the bay at the rising sun

* * *

Neji walked out of the shower in a pair of basketball shorts and a towel around his neck to see a passed out redhead on the bed. Gaara must have gotten home not too long ago, it was morning and he had been out all night. He told Neji he had work to do for Itachi, but he had no idea what.

**Flashback**

Gaara and the Rivu walked into the safehouse Itachi told Gaara to bring the man to. He was a lot more important than he made himself out to be. He was the one who ran ALL of Itachis legitimate businesses.

"How did they get a hold of you?!" Itachi yelled as he was pacing the living room floor. Gaara had never seen the man so emotional. It was an eye opener.

Rivu was sitting in the armchair and Gaara the couch. There was a knock on the door and Itachi looked at Gaara.

"Take care of it." he said.

Gaara pulled his Glock out of his coat and walked out of the room. He looked out of the peephole on the door and found Pein standing outside, but his expression seemed very nervous. Thats when Gaara saw a flash of grey hair behind him.

"Its Pein but hes not alone." Gaara said pulling the barrel back making sure there was a bullet in the chamber.

"Kill whoever is with him." Itachi said."No problem." Gaara opened the door and grabbed Pein and fell to the ground with the orange haired man laying on top of him.

The grey haired man fired as soon as the door opened but he had a look of shock on his face as the bullet hit the wall he looked down to see Pein laying on top of a redhead, who had a Glock pointed up at his face.

Gaara pulled the trigger and watched with somewhat of a sick satisfaction the grey haired man's face almost blow out of the back of his head. The .40 caliber bullet had quite the punch.

"Who was that?" Gaara asked. Pein shivered and stood up.

"That was Kabuto." He said.

"Orochimarus lieutenant?" Itachi asked walking into the room.

"The very same. This is why I called you. Orochimaru has been gaining power, he wants to run the country and well, if you let him get any more power players, he may be able to overrun us." Pein said.

"Gaara, it seems to me that you will have a lot of work coming your way." Itachi said looking at the redhead.

"Anything you need done." Gaara said.

**Back to present**.

Neji laid down next to Gaara and pulled him close to his body. Gaara instinctively snuggled closer and Neji smiled, no matter what Gaara did, no matter how scary he was, Neji could never feel anything more than love for the man.

Gaara had crashed still wearing his clothes but Neji himself was too tired to strip him.

The next morning came with a kick of his front door. Neji awoke with a start to find a gun barrel in his face.

"what the fuc.." He never finished his sentence as a gunshot rang out through the apartment.

Gaara had fire in his eyes, Neji watched a Gaara had pulled his gun out of his suit and shot the man standing over Neji. The body hit the floor with a bang and then more people rushed into the room. Gaara threw up the comforter and rolled himself and Neji off the bed and onto the floor, once there he lifted his gun and shot the three men who had just run in.

There was a fourth man waiting in the living room, but he seemed to be unarmed.

"Well hello Gaara." he said.

At that point another man walked into the living room from the kitchen, he looked identical to the man on the couch.

"Sakon." the man on the couch said. Introducing himself.

"Ukon." the standing man said.

"Good for you, now what the fuck do you want?" Gaara said. The whole time his pistol was going back and forth between the two men.

Neji was looking back and forth between the two men and Gaara.

"Well we came to have a little chat. You have been quite the thorn in Orochimaru-sama's side." Ukon said. He reached into his jacket and Gaara shot him the the knee.

The man hit the floor with a thud, screaming in pain.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Sakon screamed.

"You come into my apartment, with armed men, a man points a shotgun at my lover, and you reach into your jacket and expect me to not react?" Gaara said. Neji had to give it to him, his voice had never faltered, he seemed so calm and composed. He was barely keeping his shit together but Gaara seemed just fine.

He realized very quickly that Gaara was in his element, Neji was a lawyer in training, Gaara on the other hand was a button man for a triad. He was trained to kill people by Konohas military and now he didn't know anything else. Neji was quickly realizing just how fucked up Gaara really was.

"You should just cut your losses here and get the fuck out of my apartment." Neji said as Ukons blood pooled on the hardwood flooring.

Sakon was very agitated to say the least at this point.

Gaara foresaw every movement Sakon made, Sakon reached behind his jacket but by the time he pulled his gun out Gaara was in his face. He threw several punches and Sakon hit the floor hard. Gaara put his Glock underneath Sakons chin and looked him dead in the eyes.

"If you ever come back here, and I mean ever, If you even look at this apartment again I will be there, right behind you. I will paint the walls with your fucking skull." Gaara said. The entire time he spoke his voice was calm and cool. It was like he was telling Neji what to pick up at the grocery store.

Sakons eyes went wide with fear, he had never been more scared of another human being in his life, Orochimaru did not even scare him more than this guy.

If Gaara died and went to hell, the devil would have to step aside for fear of getting his ass beat.

Sakon ran over to Ukon and hauled his limp body out of the apartment. Gaara looked at the three dead bodies in the bedroom and looked at Neji.

"We should probably move." he said with a small smirk.


End file.
